Maximum Ride: Confused and Out of Control
by l3lue lvlermaid
Summary: In this story, max and flock have an adventure in Antarctica. Cancels out 4th and 5th books. New characters. reviews are very much appreciated. NOW WITH NEW AND IMPROVED FAXNESS!
1. Chapter 1

Maximum Ride Saves the World

Chapter 1

I could feel the desert sun beating down on me. My wings felt like they were being cooked. We were almost to Dr. Martinez's house. I guess I'm still not used to calling her "mom." I looked back at my flock. I could tell that they were uncomfortable too. Angel carried Total while they were arguing about whether or not we could have a singing dog. I get annoyed at Total when he's talking. If he sang I would have to ditch the pooch myself. "You wouldn't really do that, would you Max?" Angel asked me. Sometimes her mind reading was inconvenient. "No, I guess not," I muttered. It would hurt her too much and I would never hear the end of it. She smiled to herself. The flock looked mildly confused about our internal conversation, but were used to it. Well, except Fang, who was too caught up in his blog to pay much attention anyway. In the end, he probably wouldn't care. Nudge was flipping threw the pages of her recently acquired Seventeen magazine which she got at our latest pit stop. Thanks to Gazzy, we had to stop 5 times for those kinds of pit stops. I told him not to eat Mexican food before a 6-hour flight. Gazzy was now trying to toss candy into his mouth. Straggling behind was Iggy. It took all of his concentration for him to figure out where we were flying. Gazzy had to occasionally point him in the right direction. When his candy ran out, Gazzy asked the infamous question, "Are we there yet?" I sighed. I hadn't seen my recently discovered family in a while. I answered, "Almost."

"Max!" my half-sister, Ella, squealed. "Ella!" I said. I landed and embraced her warmly. "Everyone is here already," she said while she led the flock and I into the house. "Everyone" is not a lot of people. It's just the flock, Jeb, Dr. Martinez, Ella, and me. We've met other people, but they aren't exactly what you would call "good company." We've met plenty of Itex people, but that would really kill a party if the guest of honor got into a full-blown fight. Speaking of parties, I couldn't believe the sight when I walked into Ella's house. Everything was simply dripping in pink. Pink streamers, cute pink doves, and pink glitter covered everything in sight. In the center of attention was a four-layer cake covered in pink frosting. The pink icing read "Happy 1st Birthday Mox!" Whoever had written this had misspelled my name. In reality I'm fifteen, but this is the first time I can celebrate my real birthday. I blushed as pink as the room, Ella stood beaming at her masterpiece that was my party, Angel stared in wonder, Total, Nudge, and Fang laughed at the pure irony, and Iggy demanded to know what was so funny. Fang stopped laughing long enough to whisper to Iggy what the room looked like, and soon Iggy was laughing hysterically, too. I told the guys to knock it off. I didn't want Ella to be hurt. She seemed unaffected. Dr. Martinez then walked in with a huge tray of freshly baked cookies. "Oh, Max, you're finally here," she said. She placed the tray down and kissed me on both of my cheeks. Jeb walked in. He had a cookie in his hands. "Good. The party can finally start."

Of coarse, Dr. Martinez made a mountain of food. And of coarse, we ate it all in a matter of 5 minutes. We played silly games, like Apples to Apples, and watched movies with a lot of action. Angel, Ella, and Nudge skipped out on that, but they managed to do something else. At the end of the whole shindig, it was time to open presents. Since the flock didn't have birthdays we would celebrate freedom days. We would count the years that we had evaded the School and escaped from the cages of which we were raised. But that was just Iggy making a cake. My present was a single envelope from Ella, Jeb, and Dr. Martinez. In the envelope were tickets to Sydney, Australia. I viewed this as redundant.

_You can't go. The time to save the world draws near. Only you can save the word_.

_Jeb, aren't you the one who gave me the tickets._

_Jeb can make the voice, but he isn't me. You don't have time for these social events. Get out of there NOW! The others are already on their way here._

_I would get "here" faster if I knew where "here" was._

But of coarse, since the voice was the voice, it was already gone. My flock and family were looking at me as I held my head in my hands. They were waiting for my reaction to the tickets. "Uh... Thanks, but aren't I still sort of busy. I need to save the world still," I said apologetically. Everyone groaned. "Lighten up, Max," Fang said as he hugged my shoulders. The next thing I knew, I was being pushed onto an international plane. I vaguely remembered the seating arrangement discussion. Ella and Nudge. Fang and Angel. Dr. Martinez and Jeb. Iggy and Me. Gazzy would sit alone. He had Mexican food again. Everybody was doing his or her usual thing, but I was too pent up. I hated flying on planes. I sat next to the window, looking out pretending like I was flying. I imagined my flock flying beside me. I looked out the window and I saw a flock of something. They looked liked birds, but they were wearing clothes. I rubbed my eyes. Flying a few feet from the plane was a flock of bird-kids. The petite female, who was obviously the leader, got right next to my window, pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tongue. I gaped in surprise. She laughed and flew off to catch up with her flock.


	2. Chapter 2

Forgetting whom I sitting next to, I said, "Did you see that!?" Iggy turned to glare. "What do you think," he said. "Wow! I wonder if there are any my age. Then we could have tea parties in the sky," Angel said as she turned in her seat to look at me. "What exactly did you see?" Fang said as he broke his eyes away from his laptop. "I think they were bird-kids around our age. They were flying about as fast as this plane to the south," I explained. I didn't want to mention the girl who laughed at me. "Please fasten your seat belts. We will be landing in Sydney, Australia shortly," the intercom said. I fastened my seat belt and sorted out what I had just seen.

Sydney was hot and crowded. Everywhere that you looked you could see tourists looking at maps to their various destination. We were on the beach when it happened. Angel was somewhere in the ocean talking to the exotic fish. Gazzy had somehow gotten hold of water gun and decided to bother Nudge while she tanned. Iggy and Fang were off somewhere doing something perverted. I was sitting under an umbrella on towel and sunscreen duty.

_Max, stop wasting time. You need to leave. The time is near. You need to save the world. You need to go._

_What if I don't want to go? Fang was right; I need to relax every once in a while. I don't see any danger so I won't get too worked up._

_Since when does Max change her mind because of a boy. You shouldn't be so easily swayed. _I blushed.

_I didn't want to have it come to this, but it seems I have no other choice._

_What......?_

Suddenly, there was a pain in the back of my head. My wings unfurled, and I took off in flight. I was caught off guard. I wasn't in control of body. I could see the startled cries of those below me on the beach. I could see my flock running after me. After a few minutes they had joined me. "Max, what do you think you're doing? You just exposed yourself," Fang yelled. He was furious. I remembered the promise we had given that we wouldn't fight in front of the flock. I could see that the rest of the flock was angry. "I have as much idea about what I'm doing as you. I'm not in control," I said. The faces of anger soon became surprised. "How?" Fang asked. "I think it's the voice controlling me via something in my head," I said.

_You forced me to do it, Max. _

_Can you at least tell me where we're going? _

_Antarctica_


	3. Chapter 3

I'd been flying south for hours now. Flying unwillingly was exhausting. More so than regular flying because you're fighting your own body. I tried to convince the flock to go back to Australia, but they wouldn't listen. Already, I could feel the temperature changing. The sun was setting and I was concerned for the younger ones. In the back I could see Angel huddling with Total for warmth. Fang was on his laptop, again, telling Jeb, Ella, and Dr. Martinez where we were. Not like we knew exactly where we were going ourselves. I knew that Fang's laptop battery might be getting low. Suddenly, I could hear Fang laughing. "What's so funny?" I asked. Nothing about our situation was funny. "It's these crazy questions that this girl named Jess sent to our blog," Fang said, stifling his laughs. I rolled my eyes. Of coarse Fang would be blogging in a state of emergency. "Why don't you give the laptop a break for when we might really need it," I said. "Hey, someday these people might come in handy. You never know what teens might be able to do if they're bored," Fang said.

It was almost dark no and I was starting to hear complaints. "I'm hungry." "I'm tired." "I'm cold." "I can't see anything." "Iggy, you can never see anything," I said. I wondered why the voice had ditched us like this. It sounded like it really needed our help, but it seemed now it wanted to kill us. Fog covered the ocean below us. It was kind of eerie. Suddenly, my wings stopped flapping. There was one moment of glide, but then it was a death spiral towards the ocean. I screamed. I heard the frantic cries of my flock as they tried to catch up to my plummeting body. They wouldn't be able to catch up. I braced myself for the cold water's impact. Instead, I landed on something incredibly soft. I wondered why there was an incredibly large pillow in the middle of the ocean. I saw a hatch appear in the middle of the pillow as the flock landed on the pillow as well. The flock ran over to hug me, but I was more interested in the hatch. I body emerged from the hatch and stalked towards us. I put myself in front of the flock, though I could still feel Fang's arms around me. "Welcome, Max and flock, to Post #1!" a voice cried out. I fainted from exhaustion.

I awoke in a brightly lit room. I was on a bed lying down under layers of comforters. I sat up immediately looking for my flock. Fang was sitting in a chair by my bed sleeping with a laptop on his lap. My first reaction was that it was very sweet. But then I remembered that I was thinking about Fang and distracted myself by looking for the rest of the flock. They were sitting at a table in a nearby room eating cookies. They were out of their summer clothes and in heavy-duty winter sweaters. I looked down at myself and saw that I was also heavily clothed. I blushed to myself. At that moment, Fang woke up. "Oh, now Max's awake. We can finally figure out what's going on," he said. "Hey, I probably know less than you do. Why didn't you figure out what's going on?" I retorted. "I would've but Jack will only talk to 'the flock leader.' He locked us up in this cabin and he should be coming any time to see if you are conscious yet," Fang explained. I heard someone messing with a door. "Jack" came in with a tray of giant chocolate chip cookies. "An offering to the great Max," Jack said. He lifted the cookies towards me. "Uh, thanks. Would you mind telling me what's going on?" I said, a little impatient. Jack looked confused, "I heard that the great one was able to control her subjects, but I never thought she would take it this far." "Who is this 'great one?' What does she have to do with me?" I asked. "Since when has are great ones girls?" I heard Iggy say. I heard Nudge punch him. "How can you not know the great one? She created your 'uniqueness.' You should know her best, Max. I hear that you are her favorite out of all of them. She really wanted you there. That's why she talked with you so frequently. She's the one that brought you here," Jack said. Surprise colored my face. The voice was the great one. The others were able to figure out this too. "So, Max's voice is your so called great one?" Fang asked. "Don't you dare humble the great one, you filthy subordinate," Jack said as he punched Fang in the face. I jumped up and pinned Jack to the wall. "What do you think you're doing!?" I screamed, outraged. I punched him twice for good measure. "I'm sorry Miss Ride. I don't know what came over me. Please. Please have mercy," Jack pleaded as he sobbed. "Look we can be friends or...," I was cut off when my wings unfurled again. Pain shot through my head and my body rushed out the door. My flock quickly followed, after Fang kicked Jack where it hurts.


	4. Chapter 4

The new day beheld a bright blue sky. It was a perfect day for flying. Since I was under control, I was certain that this would be another long day. I wondered how long it would take us to get to Antarctica. The flight to Australia was about 18 gruesome hours with stops in Hawaii and Midway. I guesstimated that Antarctica might take that long. That meant we would probably have to stop at on of those posts again. "Guys, I think we need a game plan. Those thugs obviously think that I'm better than you, so you should probably follow my lead. Don't talk a lot. Any questions?" I said. "I need to go the bathroom. Can we stop?" Gazzy said. "Sorry, Gazzy. I can't stop. You'll have to go bird style," I said. "Okay, but don't look," Gazzy said reluctantly. After that he swooped down really low. When we left Australia, the flock dropped everything to join me. Except for Fang who was basically connected to the hip with his laptop. He was answering the Jess questions now. "Hey Iggy, can you do the soldier boy?" Fang asked out of the blue. "Uh.....," Iggy answered brilliantly. "Oooh! I know it," Gazzy enthused. He stopped flying and did a really bad interpretation of the dance. "If you don't hurry up I'm going to ditch you," I said. Gazzy realized how far we had gotten ahead and hurried to catch up.

Dark was approaching and I could tell the next post was coming. The ocean was covered with another eerie fog. It must act as a cloaking device. I was very tired, but I knew I must stay awake to lead my flock. My wings failed me and I started to fall. The flock followed. There were no cries of despair this time. I remembered looking back at the sky when I fell for the first time. I saw Fang just inches from me trying to grab me. I thought I even saw tears at the corners of his eyes. There were no tears this time. Just faces preparing to meet the possible enemy.

"Welcome to Post #2, Max and flock," a woman greeted us. "Thank you," I said as I struggled to get off the giant pillow. The flock stood tentatively behind me. I was glad that they were playing along. "Show us to our cabin and then fetch my flock something to eat," I said. "Of coarse. Will you need food as well?" she asked. "No. Just feed me when I wake," I said. With that I collapsed. I vaguely remember Fang carrying me into our temporary prison.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up shivering. The second post was a lot colder than the first. I rubbed my arms as I sat up. Fang was sitting at the bedside again. "Ah, my lady has awoken. Now we shall finally commence into our next day of travel," he said. "You're a terrible actor," I informed him. "Actually, I wasn't treating you like a lady. I was impersonating our current warden," he said. Right on cue, she walked in. "Oh my, it seems like milady has awaken. I was very concerned for your wellbeing when you fainted, but this young man just picked you right up again. He said it was his pleasure to assist his noble leader. Such a loyal follower. I must say that the couplings of this group are much fairer than the last. You will do very nicely," she said. Fang and I looked at each other. Nudge looked at Iggy, and the only siblings in the flock looked at each other. I heard "Eeeeeeeeeew!" coming from the flock. "Hmm. I guess some are just not mature enough. By the way, my name is Clara. Please remember me!" Clara said. I looked at her strangely. Why would she want us to remember her? And what was that nonsense about couplings. I was about to ask her, but I was whisked away by my own body.

Clara was all the flock could talk about. "Wasn't that disgusting!? She wanted me to go out with my own sister," Gazzy said. "Do I really look that hideous? I thought I was pretty good looking," Iggy said. "You say. What about me? Why am I not likable?" Nudge said. "Well, I guess your voice isn't hot enough," Iggy replied. Nudge flew over to bop him in the head. "Guys knock it off. I'm pretty sure inter-flock dating is too much drama for me to handle. I looked at Fang; he was in his own world dreaming about the impossible.

After a few hours, I could see something in the distance. "Land ho!" I heard Gazzy cry. Sure enough we were flying over the biggest chunk of ice ever, but, according to The Discovery Chanel, it was getting smaller and smaller. "Oooh, I can see penguins. Can I have one Max? Please?" Angel said. "Sorry, Hun, but I don't think even you mind control could get me down there," I said. Then I was taking a nosedive straight towards the ice. "Angel, if you're doing this, please stop now," I said frantically. But she wasn't doing it. There were no penguins over here. There wasn't even padding over here. What was the Voice doing? As I got closer to the ground, I flipped back over and landed on my feet. I had landed on a smaller version of a helicopter landing strip. As soon as the flock landed a familiar tune started to play. "Hey, I know this song. I saw it on a commercial once. 867-5309, 867-5309," Gazzy said as he sang along to the song Jenny. Suddenly, the floor below us collapsed. I screamed. The others could fly out, but my wings wouldn't unfurl. Fang dove after me. Like before, he wasn't quite fast enough and I had already reached the bottom of the chasm.


	6. Chapter 6

The fall wasn't as long as I had anticipated. It didn't even compare to the falls from the sky. The landing was weird, though. I didn't land on a soft, fluffy pillow. Instead, I fell on something awkward and uneven. "Ow," I heard. I didn't recognize the voice. I saw the rest of the flock land beside me. "Uh Max. You might want to get off her," Fang whispered. Much to my dismay, I had landed on someone. I half expected her to have wings. I quickly got up and she followed. "Welcome to the South Pole!" she said with a big show. We all stared at her. "Pardonez-moi, Soyez bienvenus au Pôle Sud!" she said in French. "No, no. We speak English. Who are you?" I asked. "My name is Sarah and I'm here to tell you everything about this place," Sarah said. The flock looked at each other, She held a lot of promise to tell us about the Voice. "I'll show you to your room. Since you all speak English, I assume that you are Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, Angel, and Total," Sarah said as she looked at us skeptically. She must find our names weird. "Don't forget Celeste," Angel added as she held up her bear. "Right, well here's your room. Its almost curfew so I'll have to answer your questions tomorrow. You'll probably want to meet the other flocks as well. Your dinner is on the table. So that's all," she said as she hit the panel to our room. The password seemed confusing, but I was sure Nudge would be able to figure it out. I looked into our room. I had to do a double take. It looked exactly like our house in Colorado. All the furniture was in the right place. Even the rooms were the same. The rest of the flock had their mouths agape. Iggy, unused to the silence, said, "What? Is the place a dump? Figures." "It's like home," Nudge said in awe. "Cool," Iggy said as he walked in and jumped on the coach to watch T.V. Fang soon raced in to get dibs on the remote. Gazzy was soon in on the action. Angel and Nudge rushed off to get to their treasures in their room that were lost in the bomb. I still stood in the doorway. Questions were forming in my mind. How did they know what our house looked like? How could they tell that this would make us feel the most comfortable? How much did Sarah know? How long did we have until we were lured into their trap? It may have already been too late. I walked in. "I need to take a shower," I half-lied. What I really needed was to figure this all out before my flock got hurt.

The shower didn't help much. I walked out and everyone was happily eating. They must view this as paradise. "This place is magical. I can eat something right out of the cupboard and it will be replaced," Gazzy demonstrated. "Everything's organic and healthy, but it doesn't taste nasty," Fang added. "And its biodegradable," Nudge said. "I even have a place at the table," Total said happily. "Well that's just great. Why don't we just live here from now on? I mean, there's no possibility that something would go wrong. Of coarse we can trust the voice. Its not like it took us here against our will," I said with heavy sarcasm. There was a long awkward silence. "Are you PMSing?" Fang asked. Nudge slapped him for me as I stormed towards my room. I was angry. How could the flock not see the danger here? Suddenly I heard the door close. I turned around to see that I wasn't the only one in the room.


	7. Chapter 7

I started to yell, but the person said, "It's no use the walls are sound proof." "That's okay. I can take you myself," I said as I kicked him in the gut. He flew into the wall under the window with artificial moonlight. I could see the face of the intruder. It was Sarah. "Please. You have to help us," she wheezed. "All of mankind depends on you." "What do you mean? Does this have anything to do with saving the world?" I asked. "Yes and No. The world of humans is not what the voice wants you to save. The voice wants you to save the planet," Sarah said. "I don't understand. Is the voice with Itex?" I couldn't believe we had fallen into their trap. "No, no. The voice knew that Itex is planning to blow up the world in order to see what who would survive when there were devastating circumstances. The voice created a secret plot to create creatures that would be able to maintain this planet's rare ecosystem. She created different types of unique creatures, but only one made it through all of the tests," she gave a knowing glance to me. "The bird-kids were triumphant. You would be able to fly high enough to withstand any danger. Since they didn't know if this experiment would succeed, you were given expiration dates. But the timer was destroyed when you were captured," she said. "Wait. Ari was experimented on for nothing. And then you had to kill him! What kind of monsters are you?!" I said infuriated. I pinned her against the wall. "I had nothing to do with this. I was taken away from my parent at birth to work in this godforsaken organization. I was the one that wanted you to save people, remember?" she said. I put her back down. "So Itex is going to kill all the humans. Why aren't you like the other humans at the post who were all 'praise the great one?'" I asked. "Why do you think? They were brainwashed," she explained simply. "How can the voice do all of this? Why is she so concerned for our planet anyway? What is the voice?" I asked. "Well… You see…" she interrupted her awkwardly put explanation. "I've got to go. I answered as many questions as I could. I probably won't ever see you again, so good luck," she said. "Wait!" I called, but she was already away into a secret panel. Suddenly there was a knock on my door. "Max, I found something on my bed that you might want to check out." I opened my door to see that nudge held up in her hand a C.D. that read "Max."

"Fang, I need your laptop," I said as a rushed into the living room, Nudge following. "Sarah left us some clues on how to save the world." "Why would Sarah help us? Isn't she with the enemy?" Fang asked as he handed it to me. "No. She is trying to save mankind's butt. Itex is going to blow up the world and our kind are going to be the only survivors," I explained as I popped the C.D. in. "I wonder how big that bomb would be," Iggy said in awe. "But wait, what would we eat!" Gazzy said in distress. "I don't know, cockroaches? Nudge, could you figure out this code," I said. "No prob," she replied. "We've got to stop this," Fang said. "I know. But what disturbs me is that Dr. Martinez and Jeb probably already knew about this," I said. "Ella!" Iggy exclaimed. Everyone looked at him. "I mean, she'll be in danger too, right," Iggy said sheepishly. "Yeah. Are you almost done with that Nudge?" I said, averting the subject. "S-Sure," Nudge stammered. She gave the laptop to me and went to her room. I wondered what was wrong with her. "Iggy and Ella sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G," I heard Gazzy tease. "Shut up," Iggy said as he attempted to hit Gazzy. On the screen was something unfamiliar. It was Sarah's observations. There was a detailed map of the base with lots of codes. There were flight times of the Itex's departure. It even had profiles of all of everybody here. I scrolled down to the voice. There was nothing there. I was disappointed, but Fang was reading over my shoulder and was pointing to the screen. "What's that?" he asked. What it was was detail of the bomb and where to find it.


	8. Chapter 8

We decided we shouldn't do anything until we knew a little more from the inside. We would have to confront Sarah tomorrow. I woke up when there was a knocking on the door. I got up thinking it was Sarah. But of course it wasn't. Sarah would have just snuck into my room. At the door was the girl who had laughed at my bewildered face on the plane. I looked at her in surprise. She laughed. "That never gets old. I thought it was pretty stupid for an Avion-American to be flying in a plane. You're weird, Max," she said as she walked in. "Max, who is that?" Fang asked as he walked in. Many people thought Fang was emo. If he is, his pjs didn't show it. He liked to wear ironic boxers to bed. Today just happened to be Hello Kitty. "Whoa, Fang. I really didn't need to see that. When did you abandon the dark side?" she said as she blocked her eyes. "Its not laundry day yet. I had to borrow Iggy's. How do you know my name?" Fang said as he sat down. "My name's Courtney. My flock-mates names' are Eli and Sam. You're pretty much famous around here. Everybody reads you're blog. You guys are very dramatic. You're lab life couldn't have been that bad, could it? All they're supposed to do is train you for the new world," Courtney said. "You know its kind of weird to have your couch facing a wall," she said as she started to move the coach. "Uh, stop. Don't do that. It's there for a reason," I said. She moved it just enough, though. "Hey guys, what's uahhhhhh!" Iggy said as he came into the room. As expected, Iggy had made a leap for the couch. What he didn't expect was that the coach had moved. Iggy got a face full of floor. Courtney started to laugh. I didn't notice it before, but her flock was standing at the door, and they started snickering too. "Who moved the freakin' couch!" Iggy said angrily as he tentatively got up and started to grope for the couch. When he sat down he stared angrily at the laughing girl. "Max is this the weirdo who was flying outside the plane," Iggy asked. That stopped her laughing. "Oooooh, you've heard of me, too. Maybe our flock will end up being 2nd popular. Especially since we'll be hanging out a lot," she said. "Why is that?" I didn't want to spend any more time with this head case any more than I had to. "You're mentor got fired, of coarse. She gave out information that she wasn't supposed to, so she had her memory replaced and was shipped off to an artificial family. Serves her right. I mean, she could've convinced you to save the humans," she explained. That threw me off guard. Wasn't it natural to save the humans? "Why shouldn't we save the humans? Aren't we mostly human?" I asked. She looked at me like I was dumb. "Of coarse we shouldn't save them. They'd just ruin the world all over again. Ever heard of global warming? You can see the effects of it outside. Our differences between them put us above them," she said as she rolled her eyes. "But of coarse, Maximum Ride will have to come to the rescue. Just a warning, some people here are really serious about their superiority. They just might stand in your way. I personally don't care what you do," she said. As she left, she called out, "And if you need anything we're right next door." I put my head on the table. She seemed nice enough, but she was very annoying. Then, Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy came out. "Did they leave?" Nudge asked. "Whoa, there were people here? I must have slept through all that. Hey Iggy, could you make me some breakfast?" Gazzy said. "Sure," Iggy said as he got up. "I kind of like her mind. It's very… random, and she likes animals," Angel said. "Does she have a cute dog that she can introduce me to?" Total asked Angel. "No, it looks like she only has a snake," she replied. Angel gave more of a description of Courtney, but my mind was elsewhere. I was thinking of the people who would get in my way. I definitely needed more time before I acted.


	9. Chapter 9

_All avian please report to the conference room. Remember, everybody needs to sit in his or her country of origin. Groups can socialize after the announcement_ a voice said inside my head. It wasn't the voice, but it still had the same effect. Without my consent, my body was whisked out the door. The flock followed after me. We were traveling with our neighbors. "What's up," Courtney said.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Courtney rolled her eyes. "It's really too bad that your mentor couldn't stick around to tell you the basics. I don't want to have to tell you newbs everything. So I'll have Eli explain it."

Eli started, "Why me?"

"You're my expert of randomness. It has to be you."

Eli turned to us. "Since we have some new flocks here, I would guess that this would be a meet and greet. Everybody will introduce themselves and what not." At the end he muttered, "Maybe a little initiation."

I was going to ask him about that, but we arrived at the meeting place. There were tables everywhere assigned to the different flocks. It looked like the United Nations. My body was directed to our seats.

"Welcome to the South Pole!" The substitute voice called out. I looked around because he wasn't in my head. I looked towards the center. I was startled. I heard the flock gasp. Sure he was an avian-human, but he was more avian than the other. His face looked like a humming bird. He also had bird legs.

"For those who don't know, I'm Brad. Since the voice is too busy to help you, it's my job to keep you in check."

"What're you going to do? Peck our eyes out?" I could here laughing from the Turkey table. (No they aren't turkey, they're Turkish.)

All of a sudden, mighty wings spread out form Brad. He leapt up into the air and landed on the Turkish table three stories up. His beak was next to the speaker's eye.

"I don't think you want that, do you?"

The guy shook his head frantically, and Brad backed away. I rolled my eyes. What kind of man was he? If that happened to me, I would beat up Brad then and there. Brad turned toward me.

"Well, if it isn't Maximum Ride. Finally decided to show up. If you had come earlier, you would've gotten one of the good positions. You just had to cause trouble."

"Trouble's my middle name. I don't cause it, it causes me," I said defiantly. The flock tensed.

"Since you're newbies we'll just have to put you and you're flock to the test."

The roof started to open. "Fly as high as you can," Brad demanded. "Why should I…" I said but I was cut off. My body started to fly up. The flock followed hesitatingly. Soon we were flying higher than we had ever flown before. I could see Gazzy and Angel running short of breath. "Don't push yourself too hard," I said. No one left. I could see that Angel couldn't take much more. "I'm not going," Angel gasped. "Gazzy, take Angel down," I said. He didn't give up much of a fight. A few minutes I heard, "Sorry, Max." Nudge left too. "Why am I still here?" Iggy asked a little while later. It was just Fang and I. I hated this whole organization for doing this. I hated them for putting my flock in danger. Fang was starting to breathe heavy.

"Maybe you should…"

"No, you're not going to make me leave. I'm with you to the end."

After that was a long awkward silence. The air was starting to get thin. I didn't know how much more I could take.

"I didn't know you had a twin, Max. You're both very beautiful."

I looked back to scold him, but he started to fall.

"No!" I cried. I reached back and caught him. This surprised me. Even though I could tell that my body was being controlled, I was able to make an independent move. I tried to fly down to get Fang to safety, but I stilled continued to fly up. I barely noticed it when we flew past the giant pole sticking up from the ceiling of the building. It started to play music. "Congratulations on breaking the record. You have flown higher than anyone has ever dared. You can come back down." It was Brad's voice. "What game are you playing at? As if I had any choice but to fly up." I retorted sourly. My wings stopped flapping. Pretty soon I would hit maximum velocity on my plummet towards earth.


	10. Chapter 10

I hugged Fang tightly as we free fell through the air. I tried to move by myself, but my wings wouldn't budge. I looked down towards the ground. Even though the change was faint, I could see the ground approaching. I looked at Fang in my arms. Even though he was delusional from lack of air, he called me beautiful. It was a pity to know that we were both going to die now because I couldn't save us. Suddenly, something hit us from the side. Fang was ripped out of my arms.

"Team Australia to the rescue! What a thrill! Don't you feel helpful, Eli?" Courtney said. I could see that she held Fang in her arms. Surprisingly, I felt jealous that he wasn't in mine anymore.

"Sure, whatever. Man, this is awkward. I hardly know Max. Why couldn't Sam come instead?" Eli complained.

"Because you're so smart and knowledgeable."

"What does my intelligence have to do with …?"

"What's so wrong with carrying me?" I interjected. "Honestly, I'd rather not be carried, so you can just drop it."

"No can do, Max. I have to hold on to you until you are safe on the ground."

"I'm not an it, am I? I meant drop the subject." I could feel my face redden.

"Max?" Fang said as he regained consciousness.

"Well, welcome back Sleeping Beauty. I saved you from the clutches of that beast. Max was holding you so tightly I had to help you before it went too far." Courtney said. That perked him right up.

"Max?!" Fang said.

"Oh, you know it wasn't like that. I just tried to keep you from falling to your death."

"I feel so violated. I can't believe you almost sexually molested me. You almost lost my youthful innocence!" Fang teased.

"Shut up," I said as I looked away.

Pretty soon we were on the ground again where all of the avian awaited us. "Well, you have proven to be the best of the best. You are now part of the Iccarus Association," Brad said as Courtney and Eli landed. "What's…?" I tried to say, but at the same time someone shouted, "Let's party!" The room became dark and blaring music started to play. "Wait!" I said, but it was too late. People started crowding together in a huge blob. Noise and confusion were everywhere. "That was some fancy flying," someone said behind me. I turned around. He was tall with sandy blond hair. His eyes were like ice. "You're lucky to just have to do one trial."

"Excuse me?"

"My bad, my name is Derek. My flock and I are from Deutschland. We are also in the Iccarus Association. We had to go through 3 trials before we were accepted."

"Does everyone have to be in Iccarus Association?"

"I would tell you, but what would I get in return."

I got closer to him. I had never tried this before, but I heard about other girls doing it. I put on my sexiest voice possible and whispered on his ear, "Please tell me. I can keep a secret." It might have worked a little bit. He stepped back and said, "First, you owe me a dance, and then we'll go somewhere a little more quiet." Lucky for me, the song was up beat so we wouldn't have to slow dance. Pretty soon we were sneaking out the door. It may have been my imagination, but I thought I could see Fang's pained expression watching me leave.

"The Iccarus Association is as you know for the best of the best. There are five different trials to test the flock. If you pass any one of those tests, you're in. The world is going to be blown up, and we're the only species that will be able to survive."

"I wouldn't exclude the cockroaches." I added.

He smirked at me. "When we're mostly by ourselves, there has to be someone to keep the order until we find the destined ruler. The peace keepers are the Iccarus Association."

I was confused. Who and what was the destined ruler? "Don't you feel bad for all of the humans? I mean, because of Itex, they're all going to die."

"Why should we care? They are just making this planet week. Compared to the other planets, they're helpless."

"Right." He must have been one of the ones with the superiority complex. He turned to me.

"I just gave out a lot of confidential information. I would like something in return." He stalked towards me. He pressed his lips to mine. I shoved him off. "What do you think you're doing?" He came backed to me and locked my arms to the wall. "My, haven't you changed your tune," he whispered in my ear. I tried to kick him off, but someone took him off for me. "I think she wants you to stop," someone said. Fang had come to my rescue. Derek was clutching his stomach. "Let's go," Fang said as he grabbed my arm and led us to our room.


	11. Chapter 11

"Let me go, Fang. I want to go beat that Derek to a pulp." I struggled against Fang's restricting hands.

"I think he's had enough for one day."

We walked into our home-place and Fang shut the door behind me. I didn't feel like arguing with him tonight. Just then, the door opened with Nudge leaning on Iggy's shoulders with Angel and Gazzy following behind. Nudge was laughing a little too loudly. "Man, what a party! Had you ever seen so many lights? Whooo! I have a headache," Nudge said. There must have been something a little extra in the punch. Iggy dragged Nudge to the bathroom where I could here her puking. Angel and Gazzy sneaked away to their bedrooms. I sat on the coach and tried to watch TV. That Derek went too far. "We're all alone," Fang whispered in my ear from behind. "Not in our minds," I replied and with that got up to go to the laptop. I searched thoroughly through Sarah's CD. I discovered a file labeled "Lu Lu." I tried to open it, but there was a password. I didn't want to bother Nudge with this yet, so I shut down and would wait until morning.

I couldn't sleep because Nudge was puking up her guts. I decided to step out for a walk. When I went out the door, I saw someone sneak into the room next to ours. I went back inside and grabbed Sarah's CD. If those people searched our room, I didn't want them to take what little information I had. Once again I stepped out.

I decided I would go to the place I first entered from. I thought about my only other trip outside. I had somehow gotten some control when I tried to rescue Fang. I didn't know how that could have happened. I probably wouldn't be able to fly myself out, but maybe I could find enough strength to fly myself out. What little hope I had, vanished when I saw the sleek sides of the tunnel. It was also to narrow for anyone to carry me out. From the top I could hear "Jenny," and the trap door opened above and three bodies fell to the ground.

"Claire, It goes against my beliefs to say you're right this time," someone said.

"Oh, come on. I told you that the North Pole must have slipped through the Earth and now the South Pole is outrageously long. I blame Global Warming," another voice said.

"Hey, Chip, that's not possible, right."

"Of course not. As I already said before, there are not any North and South 'Poles.' That was entirely a coincidence," a third voice responded.

I hid in a dark corner.

"So, Lu, where are we?" the third voice said.

"Antarctica, silly," the first voice remarked

I heard a punch.

"Hey, violence is not the answer. Wow, we're getting a large Sarah reading here. She was definitely at this place. Some of her stuff is really close by."

I reached for the CD. This "Lu" must of known who Sarah was. Perhaps she may be the Lu from the file.

"Hey, do you think she's over in that corner?" the second voice said as she pointed to where I was hiding. My cover was blown. A light flashed to my face.

"That's not Sarah, but maybe she knows something. Hey, you, do you know anyone named Sarah?" the first voice said.

I panicked and attacked. I had the speaker pinned on the ground when I first looked at her. She looked exactly like Sarah. I gasped and got up, not knowing what to do.

"Geez, why am I being attacked for no reason? Just calm down. It's pretty obvious that you knew Sarah so don't deny that. We're most likely on your side if Sarah trusted you with something. Could you hand it over?" Sarah's look alike said. I was frozen. She sighed. She found the CD and gave it to this scrawny boy.

"Pop this in the computer would you, Chip?"

Chip looked small for his age and very pale. His dark hair almost got into his eyes. The other girl with them was also pretty pale with platinum blonde hair.

"I found the file Lu. It needs your password," Chip said.

"Just a second," Lu said.

"So you're Lu Lu?" I finally said.

She turned to me and smiled, "Good guess. I see you've gone through my sister's stuff. Lu Lu's short for Lucille. Sarah's my twin. We planned on saving the World together, but she got taken away. My friends here are Chip and Claire. We're all outcast experiments. Chip here's are technology expert. He's too nerdy to do anything else." Chip opened his wings. I was surprised to see that they were like penguins. "Not to mention the fact that he's flightless without his jetpack. This is Claire. She's very blind. She can't even tell us apart without her Chip developed sonar. She could spot you and many other things with her new and improved 360 'vision.'" Claire opened her wings and they were canary yellow. "She pretty hard to miss up in the sky. Now me. Since I'm a twin, all of the useful bird stuff got placed in my sister. I have absolutely no sense of direction. I need Chip developed technology just to get into a room. Check this out." She unfurled her wings. They were a beautiful white and blue. "Pretty snazzy, huh. I know you're jealous. Now tell us about yourself."

I started. "I'm in no position to say anything."

"Max, what happened to the …" Fang said as he entered the scene. "Oh my gosh, it's Fang!" Lu said. She rushed over t o hug a very surprised Fang.


	12. Chapter 12

Great. Just what I needed. Another Red-Haired Wonder.

"Uh… could you please let go?" Fang said.

"You have no idea how many times we ran into Max and you guys," Lu said as she let go.

"I don't remember meeting you."

"You never directly met us. So, do you want to hear my long exhausting story?"

"Not really, but do I have a choice?"

Lu smirked and replied, "Nope,"

(Lu's Point of View ; ))

Incident 1

I could tell we were somewhere in the mountains. It was too irrationally cold.

"Chip, are you sure this locator isn't broken? I don't see how Sarah could be anywhere close around here," I said as I checked the screen again.

"Hey, don't blame the technology. Sarah left a locating device somewhere around here, and we have to find it. The future of the world depends on it," Chip replied. He was a little crabby. Maybe his almighty laptop needed to be charged. Suddenly, Claire exclaimed, "Wow, someone just blew up a house! They're so cool!" I turned around. Sure enough, a house nestled into a nook in the mountain burst into flame. Near the house, two figures flew into the air flying towards the west.

"Claire, unless you want Chip to get mad at you for burning his devices, I wouldn't play with fire," I scolded. Chip gave Claire the death glare, but I could already see Claire enter her utopia where everything was consumed by flames. I sighed. Well, if someone was crazy enough to live here, then Sarah must not be far off.

Incident 2

"I thought you said we were covered, Chip." This was not how I wanted to spend my birthday dinner.

"Sorry, Lu. Who knew that 50 Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches would cost that much?" Chip said

"That's not the problem. Did you really expect to feed all three of us with only $30 at a five star restaurant? I thought you sold some of your 'magic' devices to the government," Claire said.

"I did, but the economy is so crappy right now, $30 was all I got."

Since we couldn't pay our dues, we're going to have to work as cooks at this restaurant. It probably wouldn't have been this bad if the cooks hadn't left because of our weird orders. Since Claire couldn't read the recipe books, Chip and I had to do all of the work.

"Let me taste test," she sad. I gave her some of the soup I was stirring. She spit it out. "That's the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted."

"Order up," a waiter called. When he looked at us, he glared and did the "I'm watching you sign.

I looked at the order. "Holy cow, I can't make all that fancy crap. And there's so much. Who would order this much food?" I exclaimed. I peeked out the door. Sitting at the table were six people. Among them were the people who blew up a house. "Hey Claire, you're favorite arsonists are here." I said. She soon joined me.

"Hey, you better get cooking," the Boss said behind us.

"Sorry, but I can't make all of this food," I said as I handed him the order form. His eyes bugged out. I could tell that this order would cost more than ours. He went to confront the six. I stared at them again. There was one who did most of the arguing. I could also tell that she also had the money to buy the food. I looked to the person beside her. He was obviously the best looking person in the group. He also looked taken by the way he looked at the arguing girl. My heart ached, but I knew I'd get over it. Much to my surprise, the group jumped up and took off into the sky, unfurling their wings.

"The little arsonist looks kind of cute, but they're all such drama queens. Do you think we'll ever meet them?" Claire said.

"I hope so," I said as I went to throw away the ruined soup. On the trash bin outside, there was a note taped. "Sorry I missed our Birthday. Have a good one!" it said. I smiled to myself.

Incident 3

"If we're going to Florida, we might as well visit Disney World," Claire said. Sarah had wanted us to check out something at the Kennedy Space Center. I was thinking Itex might use this to make their grand escape.

"I think we should go to the Station first. Sarah's information might be gone soon," Chip contradicted.

"We should wait 'til night fall. The security is going to be tight. In the mean time, we should probably take a break," I compromised.

"Yay!" Claire exclaimed.

The lines were huge, but we finally made it inside the park.

"Hey look, its them again," Chip pointed out. The dark haired one still looked cute.

"So do you know who they are yet?" I asked.

"I believe their names are Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel. Fang has a blog that is starting to get popular."

For the next hour, we followed them, trying to figure out which was which. Suddenly they ran into a building and took off.

"There they go again," Claire said. I just hoped I would meet Fang, the dark haired heart stealer.

Incident 4

"Seriously, Disney World was bad enough. Do we really need to go to Disney Land?" Chip complained. He can't really handle the rollercoaster's.

"I need the experience. These childhood years are supposed to be the most precious," Claire defended.

We were walking down a crowded beach. My feet were burning. I knew I should have gotten flip-flops from that vendor. I looked around, trying to find another one. Instead, I found the presumed Fang, Iggy, and Gasman/Gazzy.

"Oh my Gosh, they're here, too," I said.

The other turned, but I could tell they already knew whom I was talking about.

"Where's the other three?" Claire wondered out loud.

I decided I would make my move now. Max wasn't here to steal Fang's attention. Somehow, he still looked distracted. Iggy seemed annoyed with him. Soon they took off to the sky.

"Really, do they need to make such dramatic exits?" Chip said.

I sighed.

(Back to Max's Point of View)

I gaped at Lu. "Seriously, are you stalking us?"

Lu just smiled. A menacing smile that might make you want to lock your doors at night.

"See you around, Max," she said. With that, she flew into a random hallway with her flock following.

(Lu's note: Ha! How was that for a dramatic exit?!)


	13. Chapter 13

"Man, they were weird," I muttered. I scanned the surrounding area. I felt as if I was missing something.

"They took the C.D." I realized.

Fang held up a shiny round disc.

"This CD? I nabbed it from their drive while Lu was having 'share time.' She was kinda creepy though," Fang said.

I sighed in relief. This was the only thing that would keep my family safe. I couldn't let it get into the hands of someone else. I grabbed the disc and walked back to the room with Fang.

Nudge was finally feeling better. I had her take a look at the Lu Lu file. Of coarse, she cracked the password in no time. "This is a weird one. 'Alas, for I have no wings.' I wonder what it refers, too.

"The person who created this file didn't have wings, but her sister did. Alas is also wings in Spanish," I explained.

The others looked at me funny. "Whatever," Nudge said. She opened the file. Inside was a message for Lu.

"Hey, sis! If you're reading this now, that probably means I'm not here. My memory's probably been taken away and I'll be living with a strange family somewhere in the world. I won't remember whom you are or what I'm supposed to be doing. You'll have to have Max and her flock assist you. Don't worry they're reliable. I heard you've had a few encounters with them. I'll miss you forever!"-Sarah

"You know, you really shouldn't read other people's mail," a voice said behind us. It was Lu. She looked pissed. And sad. She had been reading over our shoulders.

"Who're they?" Gazzy said. I could see the other's tensing up. Claire entered the room.

"Nice place you got here. Hey, is this the place that burned down?" She turned to Gazzy and Iggy. "I have never seen an explosion like that in all of my 8 years. You inspire me." Claire took out two pieces of paper and a lighter. She started burning the paper and twisting it in the flame. The end results were two sets of wings. She gave them to Gazzy and Iggy. Iggy felt around the edges.

"What is this supposed to be?" Iggy asked.

Claire looked hurt. "They're wings of course. Can't you tell from the feathery edges and the out line? I guess my fire art still needs more work."

"I think it's pretty awesome," Gazzy said as he looked at the detail. Claire's face brightened. "But who are you?"

"That's Lu, Claire, and Chip." I pointed out. "Lu is Sarah's twin sister. They're supposed to save the world."

"Well, I guess WE'RE supposed to save the world. Looks like we'll be hangin' around here," Lu said. With that she laid down on our couch.

"Knock, Knock," someone said outside. I cautiously opened the door. It was Brad. Still on my guard, I said, "What do you want?"

"I hear you have some visitors. The Outcasts don't belong here. Defective units are of no use to us."

"Who'd want to be part of this stupid organization? You only have people here by force. You'd be happy to have us, but we're those darn rebel rousers. Defying superiors since day 1," Lu said as she got up.

This surprised me. Were the outcasts not being controlled? How? Why? Many questions filled my mind.

"Humph. Despite my efforts, the Great One thinks you'll be some aid to us. You'll of course have your own room modified to what you believe is home. Honestly, I hope the bomb blows you up," Brad said as he left.

"Likewise," Lu said. Her flock went outside. "Oh look, we're neighbors.'

Sure enough the unused room next to ours had a sign on it. It read "Outcasts"

"This sure makes me feel welcome," Chip said.

"Oh look, more people," Courtney said as she got out of her room. "I was going to invite you guys to our dorm, so I guess I'll just make it a pool party. Bring your swimsuits!'

Why were there so many random appearances? Leaving everyone in the hall, I went back inside, escaped to my room, and fell asleep.


	14. Chapter 14

When I woke up, I wasn't where I thought I was. I thought I was in my old bed. Instead I was on an uncomfortable floor. I looked around; I had no idea where I was. The rest of my flock was surrounding me and I could see the Outcasts across the room. Something hit me. Lying next to me was Fang and he had flung his arm across my body in his sleep. I quietly tried to slip away.

"Good morning, partiers! You have now officially wasted half of the day. Wake up, go to the locker rooms, and prepare for a pool party extravaganza!" Courtney said over a megaphone. Everyone soon woke up. I could tell Fang had stirred, but he hugged me closer and pretended to still be asleep. I rolled my eyes. Suddenly we were lifted up into the air and were thrown into the nearby pool. I sputtered as I reached the surface.

"All other lazy bums will be treated in the same fashion," Courtney warned. That sped everyone up. I looked at Fang. He was still holding me, not pretending to sleep anymore.

"You can let go now," I informed him. He quickly let go and I climbed out of the pool. I looked around. The place we were now was easily over 10 times bigger than our place. Not only were there the expected rooms of a house, there was an indoor pool and locker rooms, but there was also an arcade gallery, movie theatre, and bowling alley. The only thing that was bad was it was a giant cage. I'm not talking jail; I'm talking about school pet cage surrounding the outer most walls and ceiling. It made me feel uncomfortable. This must be like the only home the Australians' home. Caged up in a laboratory. Only they got way better treatment than we did. I headed towards the locker room.

Of course the only kind of swimsuit Courtney had was a bikini. I was embarrassed to come out. When Fang saw me he quickly looked away and then started staring at me. I could also see Iggy concentrating really hard.

"What's the matter with you?" I asked him.

"I'm trying to picture 'Max in a swimsuit,' but I just can't." Iggy came closer and lightly touched my body. "Oooh, a bikini."

Fang quickly shot up and pushed Iggy into the pool.

"Jerk. Why is the pool hairy?" Iggy said.

Total had somehow gotten in the pool and now little black hairs were everywhere. Courtney then made everyone stick their feet into a kiddy pool that was meant to be the doggie pool. Total was enjoying himself as he doggy paddled around the Olympic sized swimming pool. It was awfully quiet as everyone stared at their feet. Courtney was stroking her legs.

"I need to shave," she said. Everything became a lot more awkward. Lu stared at Courtney's legs as she entered the scene.

"Why would you do that?" she said as she joined her feet with ours. Compared to Courtney's slight stubble, Lu's legs were a forest. It looked as if she had never shaved before. Eli stood up.

"I'm going to get the pool cleaning supplies," he said as he rushed out into the hallway.

"I'm going to get some Veet," Courtney said as she followed. Sam, realizing she didn't know any of us, soon left.

Once all of the Australians had left the scene, everybody got up.

"I'm outta here," Chip said. Claire nodded and followed him out the door.

"I have better things to do," Nudge said and the rest of the flock followed her out. I held Lu back.

"Can we talk for a moment? I know we're supposed to work together on this 'saving the world,' but, honestly, I think our flock can handle it on our own. You guys might just get in our way," I said

"Oh, really. Do you even know what's going on? Do you know what this Great One has planned? Do you even know the intentions of Itex? Sounds like you can't do it on your own. I'm only allowing you to help us because Sarah wants me too," Lu said as she frowned.

"I know that a bomb is going to go off and that humans need to be saved. How would unwanted defective experiments be able to prevent this?" I didn't like how she degraded us.

She was really mad now. "I'll show you who's defective."

The lights were going crazy. I looked to Lu to see if she was causing this, but she was just as surprised as I was. Suddenly, Flyboys and Erasers surrounded us. Behind them were two white coats grinning maliciously.


	15. Chapter 15

On instinct, I shouted, "Scatter!" I turned to the nearest Eraser and punched his face.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Max, but your flock isn't here. I'm the only one you got," Lu said as she fended off a Fly Boy.

I had no one to rely on. Who knew if we could trust these Out Casts? Why did I have to get stuck with her? Fang would have been better. Wait. Stop it, Max. Fang would make it awkward. And I shouldn't be thinking about that kind of thing in battle.

"Just try to get to those White Coats," I said.

"No dip, Sherlock, but there's one little problem. We're surrounded!" Lu shouted.

Why did I have to do everything myself? I flew up into the air and attempted to attack the White Coats.

"It's useless," one of the White Coats said.

The Erasers and Flyboys followed me. I was surrounded again. That was weird. These enemies were a lot faster than the others. And I was pretty sure I just punched that Eraser in the face not to long ago. What was going on? I punched the Eraser again. His neck literally bent backwards as I made impact. Impossible! That should have snapped his neck. Lu was discovering that, too.

"What's wrong with these freaks?" Lu asked out of the blue.

"How am I supposed to know? I'm in the same situation as you." She was getting on my nerves.

Pretty soon, Lu and I were pinned back to back.

"Haven't you seen them before?" Lu asked.

"Something like them. But these are different." That's when Lu and I hit the same Eraser. Our fists went right through him. He had suddenly become like jelly. Then, his substance hardened like concrete. I tried to pull my arm out. It wouldn't budge.

"I'm stuck," I admitted.

"Well, get us unstuck!" Lu said, flustered.

We tried to pull apart. We tried to break it ourselves. We even tried hitting the body of the Eraser on other Erasers, but it didn't work. The Eraser became knocked out. I guess we wouldn't be able to torture the answer out of him. Anyway, we had to keep on fighting.

We totally blew it. We were uncoordinated and we didn't know the other's moves. I would try to punch a Flyboy's face while Lu would try to slide tackle n Eraser. We were captured. I kept on struggling. Kicking with all my might, hoping to break free.

"Yeah, that hasn't worked for the past five minutes. I don't think things will get any better," Lu complained.

They had chained us together and dragged us into a closet. Not only were my attempts wasted, but it also seemed to use both of our energies. Suddenly, the door opened. One of the White Coats opened the door. Despite the fact that it was useless, I struggled to try to kick the living daylights out of him. He came at both of us with a long needle. As soon as its contents were injected my world became black.


	16. Chapter 16

"Hey, Max. Get up. We gotta get out of here," Lu said.

I slowly regained my consciousness. Those White Coats must have tranquilized me. When I get my hands on them… I opened my eyes. There were white walls on everywhere. They reached high to the caged ceiling. I guess flying out was out of the option.

"Where exactly are we? Are we still in the Australian's place?" I asked.

"I don't know. They dragged us here while we were unconscious," Lu replied.

The Eraser was still connected to our arms. He was starting to gain consciousness, too. I pinned him to the wall, dragging Lu with him.

"Hey, watch it!" Lu complained. But as soon as he opened his eyes, she was pinning him as well.

"Okay, talk. Where are we and what do you want from us?" I demanded.

"How stupid can you defective bird-brains get? How hard is it to figure out that you…?" He started, but was cut off by a punch in the face.

"Lu, this is an investigation! Obviously, we want the information regardless if he throws insults at us. Now we don't know anything!" Why was she doing this to me? All I want to do is get out of here. I want to get back to my flock. I want to save the world. Why did she have to mess everything up?

"He could have been unreliable. Anyway, we still have him," she said as she raised our arms. "Maybe we should go this way," she said as she pointed toward a long hallway.

"I don't think so. Don't you have, like, no sense of direction? We're going this way," I said as I started to move in the opposite direction. She blushed and reluctantly followed me.

We walked around for what seemed like forever. I was starting to get tired. That should have tipped me off. I placed my hand on the nearest wall. It had caught my attention because it was the only place I had seen with an indent. As soon as I touched it, my hand started to go numb. I quickly took it off.

"Do you know what this means?!" I said.

"Yeah, we've been going around in circles. This was the same place where I socked that Eraser. I knew I should have taken the lead."

"No, it means that they're draining our energy. Aren't you exhausted?"

"Of coarse not, you need to get in shape."

The sound of laughter surrounded us. Flyboys and Erasers broke through the wall and started attacking us. I didn't have time for this.

"Follow my lead," Lu said.

She blocked each of their blows with the still unconscious Eraser. They started getting stuck in the Eraser as well.

"How is this supposed to help us?" I exclaimed.

"Wait for it…"

There were so many body parts lodged into the Eraser that he couldn't contain them all anymore. Lu's and my arms were able to finally slip out.

"Yes!" Lu shouted as she flew up into the air, leaving the stuck Erasers and Fly Boys behind. She started down the passage we had just come from.

"Uh, maybe we should check out what these losers had been doing," I suggested. Lu blushed and followed me through the whole in the wall.

Pretty soon we had arrived at the center where the two white coats waited for us.

"Impressive, I must say, but can you handle… the treadmills?!" one of them said.

I had to do a double take.

"Wait…What? Why would we want to run on the treadmills? We came here to kick you're sorry butts," I said. Lu nodded in agreement.

"Resistance is futile!" the other said. Large mechanical tentacles replaced their arms as they reached for us. Pretty soon we were restrained and were heading for the treadmills. For some reason, the White Coats paused. A blank expression came across their faces. I took this opportunity to escape. A crash resounded from the nearest wall. I braced myself for an onslaught of Erasers and Fly Boys. Courtney flew in to kick Lu's White Coat in the face.

"Eli, turn it off while I can still hold them!" Courtney shouted.

The walls started falling through the ground. Our attackers slid away from us and went into a closet. I could see Eli at a control switch on the far side of the room.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Eli," Courtney gave a menacing glance in his direction, "forgot to cancel the endurance/teamwork training this morning."

"What kind of idiot would want that kind of workout? How did you stop it, anyway?" I asked.

"An idiot whose supposed to prepare for the end of the world. Don't you have any mutations? It was hard enough for me to pause them enough to get an attack in this program. They drain you're energy like crazy. You're gonna have a tough time after the end of the world if you don't have any powers," Courtney questioned.

"I have powers," I defended myself.

"Then you better start training them if you expect to live. You can go now. I got to clean up the concrete jelly Erasers and Fly Boys." And with that Courtney walked away.

Astonished by the craziness of the past events, I stormed out of the room. I shut the door behind me as I got back to the flock. Fang was the only one there. He was sitting on the couch eating some Ben and Jerry's.

"So, what took you so long," he said.


	17. Chapter 17

I glared at Fang. Sometimes he could be so annoying.

"Where is everybody?" I asked

"They're out exploring. I was the only one who waited for you. You were gone, for what, 3 hours? How long does it take to get information from Lu? I was honestly starting to think that I was missing out on a huge chick fight, or something."

I looked down. I could feel my face flushing. He wasn't right, but he was close enough. If he was so concerned, why didn't he look for me? I almost wished that he had.

"Seriously, did you really? Ah man, I wish I could have seen that."

I didn't want him over for that reason, I could tell. Why did Fang have to be so obnoxious?

"For your information, there was no 'chick fight.' I was going to talk to Lu, but out of nowhere Flyboys and Erasers start attacking us. We would have been fine, but they were made out of jelly, so we got stuck and tranquilized. We were put into a maze until, finally, the Australian's cane back. It ended up being some sort of Australian End of the World Training. End of Story."

Fang gaped at me. "How many were there?"

"I don't know 30? 50? I lost count."

"Darn it! That means I missed out on real action. Do you know how boring it gets around here? I ended up binging on Ben and Jerry's."

"Where did you get that, anyway?"

"I found some in the Australian's fridge, but that's not the point. You're going to have to compensate."

"I'm not getting them more ice cream. You take care of that."

Fang suddenly had me leaning on the wall. He was leaning over me. His face was inches from mine. I could feel his warm breath.

"That wasn't what I was talking about."

He kissed my lips. Electricity jolted through my veins. He tasted like chocolate.

"You have to repay the lost action. I miss the rush, but violence isn't the only way to get blood racing."

He kissed my again and again. God, it felt so good. I could barely keep hold of myself. There must be a reason why I withheld from this pleasure. I broke away.

"Fang, wait." I was the one who needed to get my thoughts together.

"Why, nobody's here. They wont catch us." He aimed for my lips again.

"No, the other's will find out eventually. And I have other priorities. I need a way to save the world."

"We can do it together. We can think of something. But, can't it wait until later."

"Sorry, Fang. I just don't have time for you."

I shoved him away and ran to my room. I locked the door behind me. I slid down to the floor and hugged my knees. I tried to reason with myself. Part me wanted to go out there and continue where we had left off. The world needed to be saved. I knew that in my heart that this was only to protect everyone. If the enemy found out, he would find my weakness. I was protecting myself. They might hurt Fang. I was only protecting Fang. I buried my face in my arms I wept to myself.


	18. Chapter 18

"Max, please come out. Iggy made breakfast. It's getting cold," Angel said outside my door. I didn't want to come out. I had cried my eyes out, and I didn't want Fang to have the satisfaction of knowing that I stayed up all night crying over him. What was wrong with me?

"I don't want anything," I lied. It was pretty obvious. There was never a day when I would give up food.

"Hey, Max. If you're not going to eat, can I have your portion?" Gazzy asked.

"Go for it," I encouraged.

"Sweet!"

"You're not going to eat Max's food; Max is. You have to eat breakfast Max," Angel persisted, "You always say it's the most important meal of the day."

"I'll grab a few granola bars."

"Is this Max Grants a Wish Day? Can I die my wings pink?" Nudge said.

"Hmmm. Let me think about that. That would be a no. Too bad," I said. I could almost see Nudge pouting. That just reminded me of my confused feelings about Fang.

_Now, what happened to Max? I left you alone for a few days and here you are crying. _The voice said.

_I'm not crying. _I wiped the leftover tears from my face. _Anymore. Why would I be crying? Maximum Ride does not cry. I'm fine._

_Good, then you're ready to go?_ With that I was forced onto my feet. They started heading for the door.

_Don't make me go out there! Give me my body back! _Of course there was no response. I wiped my face before my traitor arm opened my door. Angel was sitting with Total outside the door, and Nudge was sticking her head of her room. Nudge was the only one of the two to be surprised by my tear stained face. The boys were in the kitchen eating. Gazzy had his mouth agape when he saw me. I couldn't stop myself, as I got closer to the door. He soon got up and followed Nudge and Angel.

"Where are we going?" Iggy asked.

"I don't know. The voice won't tell." My voice cracked. I could barely hide the fact that I had been crying from a blind person. He tried to touch my face, but I swatted his arm away from me. Everyone stared. Fang was the one who broke the standoff when he tossed me the granola bars. His face didn't look much better then mine. Well, except the fact that Fang doesn't cry.

The voice lead me to the auditorium where we had been earlier. The Australians were already at their place. But instead of he plaque that used to read "Australians" now read as "JBA."

To avoid the gazes of the flock I started a conversation. "So, what does JBA mean?"

Courtney was enthusiastic to tell me, "Juvenile Bird-kids of Australia. That was the place Eli, Sam, and I came from. It's the most awesome place ever! You should have been there."

Right, like I ever wanted to stay at a School. I searched the room I noticed a group of seats that were still unoccupied. I also didn't notice the outcasts.

"Hey, let me go, you over grown bird!" I heard Claire shout. I looked to the entrance to see Brad dragging them in. He could do it so easily. Lu looked. Brad placed the outcast in their seats in which they were soon retained. After a few seconds, Lu awoke.

"Huh, where am I? What happened?" she said lazily.

"It was horrible. The giant bird tranquilized you and carried us here. I tried to fight, but he overpowered me. Chip was to much of a sissy to do anything," Claire said. She glared at him. He didn't notice because he was doing something on his laptop.

Brad got to the front of the room. "As you may or not know, the days of great trials are coming. In preparation, you are required to take this training very seriously. Punishment results from any wrong moves." Ooh so scary. "Let Quizbowl begin!"

Wait, What? What in the world was he talking about? How is this "Quizbowl" supposed to be training?

"According to official Quizbowl rules, there must be 4-5 people on a team," Eli said.

"Just borrow someone else's player. Max seems to have plenty," Brad said as he looked at me. I burst out laughing. Everybody in the room started staring at me. I'm sorry; I just find the whole bird face thing to be hilarious.

"I call Fang!" Lu said quickly. This stopped my laughter. What was she getting at? Of course, their team only had three people.

"Whatever," Fang said as he got up to join their flock. Lu looked delighted. I felt backstabbed. Surprisingly, it was hurt close to my heart. I took out a granola bar and stuffed it all in my mouth.

"Eenie meenie minie moe! Well, I guess we get Gazzy," Courtney said. Gazzy dragged his feet as he joined the Australians. He sat next to Sam. That suddenly made me curious; I had never heard Sam talk. I found it odd. Buzzers rose from the desk.

"Okay, Fang. If we're going to win this thing, you'll need to hit the buzzer as fast as you can," Lu said. Fang was silent, staring off into space.

When the game actually started. Fan hit the buzzer right away.

"There is a city near by, it may be inhabited by humans. What do you do?" Brad said.

"I have to answer a question? I guess I would go in and order some food."

"Wrong. Don't trust humans when the human race is wiped out." Brad said. Without any warning, he threw a knife at Fang. I'm not saying a wimpy plastic knife that can barely cut anything. I'm talking machete. Anyway, it was heading straight towards him. Fang caught it out of the air.

"Wow, thanks, man. I always wanted one of these," Fang said. I noticed Fang had caught it at the knife end. I knew it would heal soon, but it still made me worried.

"Hey, guys. Have fun. Try not to get too many questions wrong. It's not we need any more weapons. I'm going to sleep.

"Max. Max!" Brad called. I reluctantly woke up. I hardly got any sleep last night, and now he was ruining what little I just had.

"What do you want?" I said.

"Either answer the question or forfeit the game."

There were only two teams remaining. This must have been the bonus round. But why was he asking me to answer a question? To my dismay, my hand was on the buzzer. I rolled and sighed,

"I don't know, 17?"

Brad paused for a moment. "Lucky for you, that was the correct answer. Max's flock wins."

Yay, lucky us. Out of curiosity, I checked to see whom we almost tied with. It was the Australians. Angel must have let Eli get some points in.

"I'm tired, if you disturb me, there will be a nasty surprise waiting for you while you sleep," I warned and I left the auditorium.

I walked past the hole. Why couldn't the voice leave us alone? There were plenty of people here who would love to rule the world. Nostalgically, I thought of the day we had arrived here. Could that have only been three days ago? I could almost here the Jenny password. I realized too late that I really was hearing her famous telephone number.


	19. Chapter 19

Someone screamed as they fell through the trap door. A thud resounded through the hallway.

"Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark."

That sounded wrong, no bird-kid would get hurt from that sort of fall. Thinking it was some sort of worker, I hid behind a corner. Maybe I would be able to get more information than what Sarah had provided me.

"Now all I have to do is find her. Maybe she can tell me what I need to know."

I wondered who she was looking for. What did she need to know? Maybe I would be able to find that person first.

"Aren't you supposed to be tired," someone said next to me. I turned my head to see Fang beside me. He was actually quite close. And he wasn't hiding.

"Be quiet," I whispered. I looked around the corner. The person wasn't there.

"Hey, I was just wondering what you were doing," he said as he raised his palms defensively. I was able to see the machete mark on hid hand.

"Fang, you idiot," I said as I dragged him back to the room.

I grabbed some cloth and treated his wound. It wasn't as deep as I thought it would be.

"What person in his right mind would try to catch a knife being thrown at him?"

"A person who had been through a whole lot worse and didn't want others to take their prize," he turned his head to glare at Gazzy and Iggy who were hiding behind the corner.

He turned his head back to me. "Why are you doing this, Max? I thought you 'didn't have time for me.'"

I tightened the cloth. I didn't like it when people used my own word against me.

"You know what I meant. Whether I like it or not, you are part of the flock. That means I need to take care of you, so don't get the wrong idea," I said.

"Fine, fine. But whether you like it or not, I'll be waiting until you do have time for me," Fang said.

I heard a squeal from behind the wall. It was about time for a little gossiper to get what was coming for her. I ran after Nudge.

Quizbowl had taken most of the day, so once again I was in my room thinking about Fang. Did he really mean that he would wait for me? I could feel myself blush as I thought about Fang. He perfectly fit the tall, dark, and handsome ordeal. But he was something more. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Whatever it was, I liked it.

"I finally found you," someone said from inside my room.

I jumped about a foot in the air. Whoever it was, they had some serious sneaking skills. I looked for the intruder. It was Lu.

"Where else would you think I would be?" I asked her.

"Tell me, why do you need me here," she insisted.

"Honestly, I don't know why you're here. I am perfectly able to handle it by myself," I said. This was a little weird. Why was she asking me this now?

"No, there has to be a specific reason why I'm here," she said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. I had a bad feeling about this.

"I have this… feeling. I need to be here. I don't know why but I saw… visions with you and me here. I left my obviously false family in search of some answers. So… start talking," she said.

The more she talked, the more confused I got. This person was unsure and confused. She obviously wasn't Lu. I must have been the one the person talking to herself was looking for. Too bad I was only slightly less clueless than she was. Which was kind of bad since the intruder in my room was none other than the person who snuck into my room just a few nights earlier. Sarah was back and obviously baffled.


	20. Chapter 20

"Could you just… hang on a minute?" I asked.

"You don't know anything do you?" Sarah held her head and went into the fetal position. "What am I doing here? I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. Maybe I really am crazy," Sarah said to herself.

"Yeah, just hang on a minute," I said as I left the room. I paused outside the door. Sarah had come back. Hadn't I wished that that would happen? How was I going to get her memory back? Maybe she just needed some sort of trigger. I headed for the hallway door.

"Where are you going?" Gazzy said with a face full of food.

"I need to pay Lu a visit."

I knocked on Lu's door. No response. I knock some more.

"Hey, come on, open the door!" I shouted. I eventually shoved the door and it opened easily.

I don't really know what I expected, but it definitely surprised me. There was no conformity in this room. You could say they had a lovely home. That is, if you were an outdoor enthusiast. I stepped inside (or outside) and headed into the deep woods that occupied the vicinity. Suddenly, giant logs swung at me from both sides. I flew up to avoid them. Spears crashed down from above. I rushed out of the scene. The objects weren't even close to hitting me but it was something to watch out for.

I wondered aimlessly through the woods. The reason for there to be a forest underground in the middle of Antarctica evaded me. Didn't Jason say something along the lines that the rooms adapted to our view of home? Hadn't they ever found a better home than this? I searched for clues on where they could be hiding. I wasn't finding anything. Then something caught my eyes. A piece of yellow fuzz was caught on one of the branches. I flew up to it to investigate.

"Whew, we finally got them all set up," Claire said. Claire and Chip were sitting up in the tree I was investigating.

"Be quiet! Lu said to be low key while she's away. Why do you think we had to set up those booby traps? We have to keep the Icarus freaks away from us," Chip said.

"Do you really think those would be enough to keep them away?" I said from behind them.

"Gah!" they cried. They gave a sigh of relief when they saw it was only I.

"When is Lu coming back?" I asked them. "I have something important to tell her.

Chip adjusted his seat. "You don't need to bother Lu with something like that. Lu says that we're more than capable of handling things here."

I gave him a glare. "Oh, really? Doesn't seem like that to me." I held up one the spears that used to be one of their traps.

Chip blushed and looked away. Very manly.

"She's gone to Florida to stop Itex from going into space. She thinks that then they will stop the bomb. I don't think you'll be able to contact Lulu for a while, so you might as well tell us," Claire said as she picked her teeth.

"Well, that's just great. Lu ditches everybody and SHE just happens to come by. Now I'll probably be stuck with her," I said mostly to myself.

"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about, but it sounds like you're problem," Claire said.

"It most definitely is you're problem. Or at least Lu's. Sarah's back, brainwashed, and currently hyperventilating in my room."

Both Chip and Claire's jaws dropped. Claire actually lost her balance and fell out of the tree. Chip recovered quickly. "That certainly is a predicament," he said.

"Either way, Lu's long gone now. We'll just have to wait it out," Claire said as she flew back up the tree.

"Whatever, I'm sending Sarah over here," I said. I turned around and headed in the direction that I came.

"What are we going to do?! We can barely take care of ourselves, and now we have to care for a person we've never even met!" I heard one they were out of sight.

"Calm down, Chip. Hopefully, Sarah can cook better than you."

"Well, at least my bright feather's didn't give away are position!"

"Who said it was my feathers? It could have been you're big mouth!"

They continued bickering long after I left their forest/home. I sighed and prepared to break Sarah the news. I walked into my home. It was strangely quiet.

"Sarah…Fang…Iggy…Nudge…Gazzy…Angel? Total?" I said frantically.

"Stop making so much noise. Some of us are trying to get some sleep," Total said as he groggily trotted into the room.

"Do you know where everyone is?" I asked him. I hated having to rely on a dog when it came to the flock.

"Oh no! They were eaten! They were shish-kabobbed and cooked over an open fire, weren't they?! My life, my purpose, gone in an instant! Just kill me now!" Total cried.

I must admit, it was EXTREMELY tempting. I could hardly contain myself. I kept on imagining the ways that I could kill that annoying little dog.

"Never mind. It's pretty obvious you can't handle a situation like this. Calm down. They're alive, most likely," I said. Total gave a little cry.

I looked around the room. There was a plain, white index card on the table. The card read, "Important Icarus Association meeting. Report to the auditorium A.S.A.P."


	21. Chapter 21

I rushed for the auditorium. My only chance of finding the flock was to go to the Icarus Association.

"Max, take me with you!" Total blubbered after me. "How dare they kidnap my darling Angel.

I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. "Don't jump to conclusions. They might just be out walking. Go back and wait for them there."

"Are you sure you don't need…"

"Total, this is only something you can do. Someone needs to hold down the fort."

Total paused for a second. "Roger!" he cried, and with that he made a u-turn back home.

I rushed ever faster to the meeting.

I burst through the doors that kept me from my flock.

"Hey, Max.," my Angel said. With a mouth full of cookies, she waved at me from our table.

"This is so wrong. How can you live with your self after keeping children hostage with a plate of chocolate chip cookies?" Nudge said as she took a bite out of her cookie.

"I should be stronger than this," Fang said as he picked up three from the plate.

"Dr. Martinez's were a whole lot better than these," Gazzy said as he stuffed the remains of his in his mouth.

Iggy didn't say anything. Instead, he grabbed the plate and downed the rest of the cookies into his mouth.

"Hey, you were supposed to leave some for Max!" Angel cried.

"That's okay, sweetie. Now we can get down to business," I said.

I searched the room. The only person that I hadn't found was Sarah.

"By the way, do you know why Lu would be locked up?" Fang motioned with his head.

That's when I heard her. "Please, let me out! What did I do? I'm innocent!" Sarah said from the corner. She was locked up in a dog crate like the ones at the School. Ah, that brought back great memories. "That's not Lu, it's…"

"The meeting will now commence," Brad said out of nowhere. "As you all know, there are many important matters to discuss today."

I looked to the side and saw the Australians nod in agreement. "The chicken needs to be cooked a whole lot more. Do you know how disgusting it is to eat raw chicken?" Courtney said.

"Why are you even eating the chicken? Isn't that sort of like cannibalism?" Eli said.

"Eli, it's a chicken."

"Hey, I'm not racist. It doesn't matter if it's a chicken or a ostrich, we are eating are selves!"

"What are you, a man or a bird? Toughen up and get over it. Humans eat birds," Sam said.

I was so surprised I almost choked. This was the first time I had ever heard Sam talk. The only people who seemed surprised were my flock. Iggy nearly coughed up his cookies.

"Anyway, that's overruled. Raw food is supposed to prepare you," Brad said.

I cracked up. Couldn't these people think of anything else besides what might happen. With Lu in Florida, and if she actually does what she went out to do, everything should be fine.

"Would you shut up! Let's get onto the subject of the human already," Derek said form a few tables over. I got up to punch that sucker in the face. I hadn't forgiven him for what he did to me that night. Once again, Fang restrained me from kicking his sorry behind.

"Sit down!" Brad ordered. I didn't have any choice. I was forced back into my seat.

"The former mentor Sarah has returned despite her erased memory. She was exiled because she proved to be a unreliable employee. The question is if we should allow her to stay here," Brad said.

"Well, isn't it obvious, send the traitor away. We can't trust humans," Derek said immediately.

"She can't remember anything, so you shouldn't worry about what she is not capable of doing," I said just to fight with Derek with what I could.

"I agree. More people makes everything more interesting," Courtney added.

"Okay, it's decided. Sarah is now under the responsibility of Max's flock," Brad said.

Wait, what? When was this agreed upon? Why did we have to get stuck with babysitting. "Hey…"

"Next order of business is our final preparation for the end," Brad said.

"I was talking," I tried to say.

"What is it this time?" Sam asked.

"Survivor, winner get's to meet the Voice and govern most of the remaining lives," Brad said.


	22. Chapter 22

"Survivor? You don't mean that overly dramatic TV show that has their pathetic contestants wear dorky t-shirts that try to get some creepy totems, do you?" I asked, skeptically.

"Not that one. He means the Survivor with the AWESOME, EXTREME challenges topped with a nail-biting anticipation of possibly leaving without the money. They have to live out in the wilderness and have to eat bugs for food," Gazzy said. I could see a slight gleam in Iggy's and Gazzy's eyes.

"Aren't they the same…" I started.

"It doesn't matter. I have never heard of Max backing out of a challenge before," Fang said.

I turned to gape at Fang. I couldn't believe that he would go with something as lame as this. I searched his face. Despite his seemingly serious face, he couldn't hide the faint glimmer in his eyes. I sighed internally. Stupid boys and their machoness.

He was right, though. I have never backed down from an obvious challenge. And this would be the perfect opportunity to get back at Derek. If I could win this, I would be able to rub it in his face. The voice thing wasn't a bad plus either.

"There better be marshmallows," Courtney said.

"Wait a minute, you're not seriously thinking that our flock has to compete with these guys," Derek said.

"Why, think you're going to lose?" I said.

Derek glared at me, "No I meant that I didn't want to have to crush little girls, but now I can see it is inevitable."

A quiet ooh resounded through the room. All of the females in the room turned their head simultaneously to glare at him.

"We'll see who'll get crushed," I said. I flew up and gave Derek a punch in the face. He pushed my arm away and gave my ribs a swift kick. The breath was knocked out of me, but I quickly secured him in a headlock and started to beat his head.

"Enough," Brad said with authority that echoed throughout my body. My arms moved away from their strangle hold and I was slowly forced back to my flock. Derek got up and tripped me. I stumbled forward.

"Boo! Cheap blow!" Sarah shouted from the sidelines.

I turned to glare at her and she immediately shut up. I slowly got up and tried to make a break for Derek, but I was internally restrained.

"Save it for the competition," Brad said as he left the room.

"Save it for someone who cares," I retorted.

He paused outside the door, but then went out.

"Chicken," I said to myself.

Just then, it started misting in the room. It was a strange liquid, but I knew it wasn't water.

"Does this room smell like chloroform to you?" Courtney said dizzily. She crumpled to the floor.

I held my breath. I looked around, but the chloroform was over taking everyone. I flew to the door, but it was locked. I looked for another exit, but it evaded me. I couldn't hold my breath any longer. I breathed in and was out cold.


	23. Chapter 23

I woke up disoriented. It was strangely hot and humid for one of the coldest and driest places in the world. I focused in on my surroundings. Everything was covered in green. The ground was blanketed in a soft layer of moss. Giant leaves hung from the green covered trees. Everything smelled fresh. Angel started to wake up. She rubbed her eyes as she looked at the environment.

"Total, I don't think we're in Antarctica anymore," she said.

I waited for his panicked response. I almost felt like I forgot something. Him not talking was weird. It was nice, but it was weird.

"Max, where's Total?" my angel asked.

I stiffened. I looked around at the unconscious bodies. There wasn't any dog.

"He must have gone off into the forest to do his business," I said slightly panicked

"There aren't any dog tracks around here," Angel said as she looked around.

"H-He must be somewhere. He could've gotten taken somewhere else o-or mutated into growing wings or something," I stammered as I frantically searched for that troublesome dog. Angel gave me disapproving looked. Like it was my fault for him not being here.

I tried to recollect my memories. There must be some reason that he wasn't here. I hit myself several times in the head.

"I know where he is. Of coarse I do. I told him to stay there while I searched for you guys. Total is at our place in Antarctica," I said.

Angel got up. "We've got to get him. We can't go without him," Angel said with authority. To much authority.

I got up as well. "Look, sweetie, if we are able to get out of here without a hitch, we'll need to avoid as much trouble as possible," I said. No matter how hard she tried, Angel couldn't deny that I was the leader of the flock. That didn't mean she didn't fight back. She was growing up just like me. It almost wanted to encourage her to rebel against authority, but, then again, I was the authority in this situation.

"We've got to return Sarah as well," Angel said.

I looked around, and, sure enough, Sarah was among my flock.

"She can find her own way home," I dismissed.

Angel switched to a different tactic. "Please Max," she pleaded with her puppy dogface.

"We'll see," I said hesitantly. I must admit that I have a soft spot for my little angel. Angel still looked glum.

"Sorry, hun, but that's the best I can do for now. First, we've got to see if we can get out of here," I said.

The rest of the flock came out of their unconsciousness and were huddled around someone. I went to investigate. Somehow they had gotten hold of a permanent marker and had drawn all over Derek's face. Nudge had given him exotic, long eyelashes. Gazzy had given him a uni-brow and a curly mustache. Fang had given him a black eye but I was pretty sure that it wasn't marker. I'm not quite sure what Iggy tried to draw. Angel came to join in the fun.

"Did you really have to hurt him, Fang?" Angel said as she took the marker and started to draw cat whiskers.

That's when everyone, except Fang, looked at me guiltily.

"He's on chloroform. He didn't feel a thing," Fang explained. He got up. "So, are we ready to go?"

"Not quite," I said. I opened my hand for the permanent marker. Everyone gave me big cheesy smiles.

"So, where did you get the marker?" I casually asked as I wrote "SUCKA" across Derek's forehead.

"Fang had it, for some reason," Nudge said.

I laughed. "What did you plan to do with it? Paint your fingernails black?" I said.

Fang rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he brilliantly replied. "Are we ready to leave yet?"

"Sure, Sure," I said as I got up and capped the marker. "Let's get out of here." With that I unfurled my wings and headed for the sky. The flock followed.

It almost seemed to good to be true. After all of the trouble, we were finally getting away. What a bunch of idiots!

I thought to soon. About ten seconds after I started flying, an electrical shock flowed through my whole body. I dropped a couple of feet.

"Max?" Fang said.

"I…" I started, but I was interrupted by another shock. It was more intense than the previous. I couldn't recover my body. I fell to the unmerciful ground (again).


	24. Chapter 24

**Yeah, I kinda haven't written in a while. Maybe its time to wrap this puppy up- A.N.**

There was no soft, cushiony surface for me to land on. No, not this time. Since I just happened to be in a rain forest, there was a shortage of soft stuff. But instead of landing in a tree or something so I could catch my fall, life decided to let me land somewhere deathly. Water pounded on my head as I lay on the rocks at the bottom of a waterfall. I felt bruised all over. That I could deal with. What I couldn't was the fact that my arm absorbed the impact. I gingerly removed my arm from under me. It was completely purple and swollen all over. I tried to access the rest of my damages, but my vision started to blur. I reached my good arm to my head. I felt a warm and sticky liquid coming from a gash in my head. As I stared incredulously at my bloody hand, I started to black out. I could barely see the figure of a person coming to my aid. As I went under, my only thought was that I hoped it was Fang.

I woke up with the light being blocked by a canopy of leaves. I sat up and instinctively touched my throbbing head. Then I remembered that I had hit my head on the rocks. With a sigh, I checked for a scar. I couldn't find one. There was only smooth skin and a lot of dried blood.

"You shouldn't move around too much," a voice called, "You're arm's still in a pretty bad shape." To my disappointment the voice didn't belong to Fang. Sarah came towards me with a wet cloth. She started to wipe away the blood, but I took the cloth away from her.

"I can handle this," I said.

Sarah just shrugged and sat near me. She then latched onto my arm.

"Do you mind? I'm not a touchy feely kind of person," I said, a little annoyed.

"I don't mind," she responded.

"Would you just stop touching me?" I partly shouted at her as I jerked away. A sharp pain shot through my arm. I looked down to see the arm she had touched was completely purple.

"Hey, I'm only trying to help you. If you were any normal human, you would lose that arm. Even with you mutations, it would take you months to heal. Since we don't have months I decided to use my mutations. However, I need direct contact," Sarah said as she grabbed my arm.

"I could handle these guys with my arm tied behind my back," I grumbled, but I didn't push her away.

"I need to find my flock," I told Sarah.

"MAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a call came from above the trees.

With a relived sigh I called, "Guys, I'm down he . . ." I was interrupted when a body shot down through the trees. "Oh hey Fang," I was silenced again. His warm lips pressed to mine urgently. Next to me, Sarah blushed. I broke the kiss with a punch to his face. "Idiot," I called him. He just gave me a smirk.

"Missed you to," he responded.

"Max!" the others called as they crashed down through the trees.

"Where were you?" Nudge said with tears in her eyes.

"Was I really that hard to find? Sarah just dragged me away to care for my wounds," I said as I indicated to Sarah with my head. She moved her fingers in a gesture of hello.

"Wounds?" Fang said incredulously. Then he looked down from staring at my face to see the purple dyed arm that was held by Sarah.

"Yeah, I also had a huge gash on my head, but Sarah healed it up," I said.

"There was blood on the rocks, but that was the only place. We assumed that you washed down the river," Iggy said.

"After we followed the river for a while, we still couldn't find you. I thought Derek found you and took you away as revenge for drawing on his face. Fang didn't like tat at all, so we…" Gazzy said.

"That's enough. What matter's is that we found you now, so what's the next course of action? Obviously we can't fly out of here any more," Fang interrupted.

"How about we find out where we are?" Angel suggested.

"Oh, yeah! I'll just call Lu," Sarah said as he whipped out her cell phone.

"What!" I shouted.

"Lu still has that Sarah tracker, right? She'll be able to tell us where we are," Sarah said simply.

"If you had a cell phone, we could have called to get help," Nudge said.

"I doubt that your flock would call for help," Sarah said as her fingers flew over the phone. A dull ringing echoed throughout the forest. Fianally, Lu picked up.

"Hey, sis how's your mission going. Mhmm. Mhmm. Really?," Sarah conversed.

"Would you get to the point already?" I said impatiently.

"By the way Lu, where am I," a blank look suddenly crossed Sarah's face, "okay thanks, talk to you later," Sarah said as she hung up.

"Well?" I questioned.

She turned her face towards me, "We're still in Antarctica."


	25. Chapter 25

**WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MAJOR FAXNESS IN CHAPTER! PREPARE YOURSELF-A.N.**

"Excuse me while I go find something to smash," I said abruptly.

"But, Max…" Sarah said as she tried to keep me at bay.

"Are you volunteering yourself?" I said as I glared at her hand still resting on my injured arm. She decided to let go. I pushed past the sudden pain as I targeted on the closest tree. My attack soon followed.

"So this means they've put us in another one of the rooms?" Fang inquired.

"Maybe this is like one of those 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' things that this is a natural world near the center of the Earth," Sarah suggested.

Gazzy's eyes lit up. "Hey Iggy! Let's go dinosaur hunting!" he enthused.

I started to kick the tree even harder. Nudge gave me a disapproving look. "Aren't we supposed to be spokespeople for nature. 'Stop Global Warming,' 'Save Endangered Species,' 'Don't Pollute the Ocean's' and all that," she huffed.

"Well guess what. I…could…care…less!" I shouted angrily. The tree then gave out and started to fall. A scream echoed through the forest. ("Was that a dinosaur," Gazzy mused as he searched for possible traces of dinosaurs.)

"You've done it now Max. That was nature screaming in pain," Nudge scolded.

"Shut up," was my reply.

"Ouch," came form the tree branches. I found Courtney. "Oh hey guys! Don't worry, I'm okay. I tried to fly away but I couldn't, so I fell. Lucky for me there was this soft and cushiony ("Was it dinosaur eggs?" Gazzy called.) …Oh hey there Eli. Whatcha doin?"

"Just get off, already!" Eli groaned.

Courtney jumped to her feet. "Well, you have successfully destroyed our tree house. Looks like we'll have another sleepover." Courtney's face suddenly got serious. "Survivor style."

"Oh yeah, this is supposed to be Survivor, right. Aren't we supposed to have challenges or something," Angel said.

Courtney's face got serious again. "Maybe this IS the challenge."

I continued to hit the tree. "Haven't you done enough?" Nudge said. I looked at her innocently, "Won't we need fire wood?"

Night fell and all of us gathered near the fire. We ate rabbit caught by Fang, (Nudge at grudgingly) and Courtney broke out her spare bag of giant marshmallows. Everybody was falling asleep. My thoughts kept me awake. Where exactly were we? How would we face the challenges that tomorrow would bring? Who is the Voice? How could Lu ignore the Voice's commands? How did nature become my motto? Who was this Patterson guy, and why was he writing books about us? Why was everything happening to us randomly like in a fan fiction? And most importantly, and most urgently because Fang and I were the only ones awake, what was I going to do about Fang?

"So, this isn't working out?" Fang said suddenly, breaking me out of my silent reverie.

"Huh?" I said brilliantly.

"I'm not as patient as thought I was," he whispered

Fang was suddenly very close. I could feel the heat from his. It seemed much more overpowering than the fire just seven feet away. Yet, his breath on my neck sent shivers down my spine. His closeness only reminded me of his desperate kiss in the forest.

"I thought I had lost you. Looks like I can't let you go now," he whispered into my ear. He then wrapped his arms around me and kissed me very sweetly. All of my troubling thoughts left my mind. It was now nice and toasty with visions of Fang. With this onslaught of mushy gushy, lovey dovey feelings, I found myself kissing him back. My mind practically exploded.

_MAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! _ the voice shouted in my head. I fought against it and tried to get back to the bliss.

_I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM FANG_

"Sorry but that's not going to work out," I accidently said out loud. I looked to see fang's expression.

It was pained, as expected, but with resolve. "I know," he said, "but I'm not going to take no for an answer anymore."

"Wha…" I started, but fang interrupted me with one of his irresistible kisses. He slowly and gently forced me down on to the ground. My mind burned with ecstasy. And inside the fire, the voice burned with it.

With triumph of ridding the voice, I kissed Fang back and forced my way back up and overcompensated and pinned Fang to the ground.

I broke away from the kiss. "By the way, I wasn't talking to you. But thanks to that, you just cleared away two things I have to deal with." With that, I flopped down next to him

"So, we're okay like this?" Fang said as he turned towards me with passion burning in his eyes.

I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, but this is enough for one night." I hugged Fang to me. He wrapped his arms around me and I slept in bliss.


	26. Chapter 26

There I was. I hadn't slept in peace for a long time. So what if the surface was uncomfortable or that it was way to hot to be sleeping this close to a person. I couldn't think of any better situation. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep any longer. I opened my eyes slowly to look my sleeping Fang. How could I have lived so long without doing this? I couldn't help but smile and give a content sigh. The mood was ruined when I heard girlish giggles above my head. I whipped my head up to see that there were several heads glaring down at a certain sleeping pair. "Oh no," I uttered.

"Oh yes. Did Max …have a good time last night?" Nudge grinned down at me.

"Not in the way you're thinking." I couldn't help but blush at the thought of what might have had the tiniest, not even probable…event that could have happened last night, but didn't.

"Oh, so you're saying that after confessing love for one another that you didn't collapse from over exposure to love."

"Shut up, Nudge! What about last night? I thought you were a nature lover as well as a vegetarian. How could you have eaten that poor defenseless rabbit?" That was my pitiful attempt of trying to get even with Nudge. She only grinned wider.

"Ha! I tricked you! I didn't eat the bunny. Courtney's an ex-veggie so she gave me some of her tofu so I wouldn't starve."

I turned to glare at my betrayer. "It was good tofu." Courtney tried to explain.

"Shut up and go away! Everyone!" I gave the second sigh of the day. This one was a lot more aggravated. Everybody seemed to be up already, except for Fang. That's when I noticed the hand on my arm. In utter horror, I slowly turned to stare at the other person lying next to me.

Sarah's face was totally flushed in embarrassment. "I didn't see anything," she said quietly.

"Just go away," I said not as harshly. She dot up and went to socialize with the flocks. Ignoring the new pain in my arm, (though it was a lot less now) I lied on my side and gazed at the person who started all of this. Despite all of the commotion, he was still fast asleep.

As if sensitive to my thoughts, his eyes fluttered awake. He gave me a lazy smile. "Well, good morning sunshine! I believe you could use some cheering up this morning," he said as he got up and kissed my lips sweetly. Disgustingly, it did cheer me up marginally. Ugh! What a softie I turned out to be.

"I'm beginning to think that you woke up last on purpose. Are you really worth all of this trouble?" I said.

"Oh, don't be like that, baby," he said oh-so-cornilly, "I'll promise to be worth your while." He leaned in to kiss me again.

"MAYBE WE SHOULD LEAVE THOSE TWO LOVE BIRDS ALONE," Nudge called purposely loudly.

"Ha! I get it, because Fang and Max are in love, and they're birds. That's funny Nudge," Gazzy said innocently.

"HEY! SHUT UP BEFORE I KICK ALL YOUR BUTTS!" Fang shouted at them. The forest became silent.

"Have I mentioned that I love you?" I said to him.

"No, but hey, I think you'll be saying it a whole lot more," Fang said.

I kissed his lips, "Luvs ya!"

"So how much longer is this going to be a threesome?" Fang asked Sarah. We had passed the excitement of the morning and were now scouting the woods for a way out. Fang and I were hand in hand. Sarah was holding on to my other hand.

Sarah seemed a whole lot more uncomfortable than we were. "Well, um, I think her arm will be better in about two days, I hope." All three of us sighed.

"So Max," Iggy said as he leaned on Fang's and my shoulders, "Do you think you're little monster will be a boy, a girl, or an egg?"

"Can I?" Fang asked me.

"No one's stopping you," I replied.

"Whoa, hey there kids, aren't you a little young to be…" Iggy was stopped mid-sentence with a back punch to the face.

"I thought I told you to shut up," Fang said to Iggy.

"Oh, so you had to ask your girlfriend for permission. What's the matter, Fang? Aren't you wearing the pants in the relationship?" Iggy teased.

"You're going to get it now," Fang said as he broke away. Iggy flew off, but Fang chased after him. Iggy's laughter was soon cut off with an ouch. I suspected that Fang caught up with him. But then Iggy said, "What the heck s this?"

I ran as I dragged Sarah along to find the mysterious object. "Is that a golden vending machine?" I said bewildered.

Then the other flock busted through the forest. They looked really bad. Especially Derek who had black streaks all over his face, not forgetting his black eye. His whole flock needed rest and food.

"We finally reached the point!" he said exasperated. He was seemingly unaware of us. When he finally did notice us he glowered

"I'm not going to lose to you," he pronounced.

"We'll see," I smirked. I really didn't care about the games, but I felt like showing off the fact that I got rid of the voice in my head.

Instead of a voice in my head, there was a voice on the intercoms coming from every direction. "Now, FIGHT TO THE DEATH! That is your challenge," Brad's voice said.


	27. Chapter 27

In a flash, it seemed everyone was in action. Derek and his flock immediately attacked us. I could see Fang being pursued by a longhaired, blonde girl. Derek and I squared off. "You're going to regret not choosing me," he muttered. I smirked, "Yeah right. Don't get too full of yourself."

"Well, it's not like you could get any better. Who'd want a ugly, violent freak like you?" he chuckled to himself. In a fit of rage, I slammed my foot on his head so it smashed into the rocks. I proceeded by grinding his face. I leaned down to whisper to him, "Who's the ugly violent freak. I turned around to see how my flock was doing. Apparently, Derek's flock was all talk. Most of his flock was badly beaten up or surrendered with no real loyalty to Derek himself. I could see the girl that was after Fang had little injuries at all. Fang must have crudely cut her hair was his machete because she was crying and running towards the deeper forest.

Over by our camp, Courtney and her flock were waiting. They had had no urge to fight. "Are you going to attack us, too?" I called, motioning to the squirming Derek at my feet. "No thanks. I don't feel like killing anyone today," Courtney yawned. I smirked, "As if you could actually…Gazzy what are you doing!"

"I want some Cheez-its," he said as he was punching the numbers into the mysterious vending machine.

"Where did you get the money?" Nudge asked warily.

"There was enough in the coin return," he answered.

"Gazzy don't…" but it was to late. He had just entered the last number.

A few seconds later, nothing happened. He tried entering it again. It didn't work.

"Jeez, they kidnap us, bribe us with cookies, and now they don't me my Cheez-its! AHHH!" Gazzy kicked the vending machine.

Relieved at no dire consequences, I tried to comfort him, "Well, it wasn't really our money in the first place…"

Suddenly, the earth started shaking. I screamed; a violent headache surged through my head. I keeled over incapacitated. Derek squirmed away like the worm he was. "Max!" Fang yelled as he flew (literally) to my side. It felt like my head was splitting open.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! YOU FOOLS!" a voice came from the broken vending machine. (Gazzy's strength is more than the average 8 year old) "ANY HOPE FOR HUMANITY YOU HAD ARE OVER NOW!" he said between chortles.

"What the hell do you mean? We're still here aren't we?" I shouted angrily back, my head killing myself from the inside.

"WHAT IDIOTS! YOU JUST DESTROYED THE CONTROLS TO THE BOMB!" Brad, simply unable to control himself, laughed hysterically.

"NUDGE! Look at the diagrams Sarah gave us, do they look like a vending machine?" I asked horrified.

With a grave face, she nodded, "The code to stop the bomb was A-32."

Unable to control my rage and frustration through my headache, I snapped, "Gazzy, you're so stupid! Can't you have some self-control! You just screwed over the planet! Oh why couldn't you have just wanted Lifesavers?"

Too late, I realized what I had done. Tears flooded Gazzy's eyes. "I'm sorry, Max. I just …" Mid sentence he broke off. He broke out his wings and flew away. "Gazzy!" the rest of the flock followed after him. But not Fang. Fang held me tightly as I cried into his chest.


	28. Chapter 28

"Ugh, I'm such an idiot," I said for the eighty-billionth time into Fang's shoulder. I was not a pretty picture to see. My eyes were all puffy and red after crying until my body was incapable of producing enough tears for me to regret yelling at Gazzy like that.

"I'm so angry at myself," I said as I swiped the last remaining tear from my face.

"I know, I know, baby. I know you didn't mean it and I'm sure Gazzy does to," Fang said wearily. Even though I still find him pretty to look at, he wasn't in his best form either. His tight black shirt was salt stained from the tears I shed and his eyes had bags after hearing hours of my incoherent words.

"If I were Gazzy I'd kick my ass," I said as I finally lifted my face from his shirt. Fang lifted my chin so I could meet his eyes. As he searched my face, he winced a little. (Very encouraging)

"You okay?" he asked sincerely.

"Not really," I said. I looked around. I noticed Courtney's flock was gone. I couldn't really blame them. They needed to find a safer area away from the explosion.

"Where'd Sarah go?" I asked. Its not like she could just fly away.

"I'm not quite sure, she just took my laptop and ran, which reminds me that I need that back," he replied.

"Odd," I said as I got up. Fang naturally followed. I walked over to the vending machine. It was beyond any use for repair. I sighed. Fang hugged me from behind.

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

"I don't know. You're the one that usually comes up with stupid plans that magically seem to work in the end. We have to find a way to save humanity, though. I mean, what will become of me if I don't have a whole bunch of screaming fan girls worshiping at my feet," Fang said.

I shrugged him off and punched him in the shoulder. "Ouch," he said, rubbing his wound.

"This isn't funny," I said. Just then, my eye caught something on the ground. Right behind the vending machine was a small, circular hole about big enough for one person.

"Did the earthquake open this up?" I asked.

Fang stared at it, too. "Sorry, I didn't really have enough time to explore with a crying girl pinning me down. Anyway, earthquakes don't usually open up perfectly circles in the ground.

"I'll go see what's down there. Maybe, there'll be a way to stop the explosion," I said as I stepped towards the hole.

"Wait!" Fang said as he held my arm to stop me. He dropped a stone down the whole. We couldn't hear it hit the bottom.

"Regardless, I'm still going down there…" I said

"Max, you can't." Fang interrupted.

Shocked, I said, "Excuse me!"

"How do you expect to get out? I mean, it's not like you can fly very far, remember?" Fang argued.

"I got rid of the voice last night, thank you very much," Fang's eyebrows rose at this, "I can fly perfectly well," I said.

"Oh yeah, prove it," Fang said disbelievingly.

"Fine," I retorted. All prepped and ready to go, I planned to expand my wings with pizzazz. Nothing happened. I tried again. Still nothing. Scared, I turned to Fang.

"I can't move my wings," I said weakly. Even he looked shocked.

_You can't get rid of me that easily. You've caused too much trouble for me, Max. One sacrifice will be enough in order to create my perfect world _the voice boomed louder and more controlling than ever.

"No!" I yelled in despair. I fell to my knees.

"Max, what's wr…" Fang started worryingly.

"Max…" a weak voice interrupted.

I quickly composed myself and held my arms open wide. Gazzy ran into my arms with tears steaming down his face. The rest of flock came to where we were all assembled.

"Max, I'm so sorry! I'm sorry!" Gazzy blubbered,

"Shh, baby, I know. I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean those words," I said as I stroked his blonde little head.

As I let Gazzy cry into me, I asked Nudge, "Do you remember if the plans had anything about a hole like this?" I indicated to the whole near where we were.

Nudge thought for a moment, "I think that's the hole Itex used to send people down to assemble the bomb. It'll probably head straight to it."

"Then, Iggy could go down there and disassemble the bomb, right?" Gazzy said, his eyes full of hope.

Nudge shook her head gravely. "There's a one way highly secure door down there. Once you go down, there's no coming back."


	29. Chapter 29

I couldn't sleep. Night had fallen and everybody was asleep. They tossed and they turned, antagonized by the hopeless situation. The bomb was due to set off tomorrow. A one-way door doesn't do any good for bird-kids who have perfect wings to fly out. It didn't take me long to reach my decision.

I unwrapped Fang's arms from around me. I walked towards the whole without looking back. There was no need for a last letter; they would all understand my choice. At the gap of the hole, I closed my eyes and held my breath.

"I love you, Max," Fang said clearly in his sleep.

I whipped my head around and opened my eyes, surprised to find they were filled with tears. I whipped them away as I whispered back, "I love you, too." Without hesitation, I jumped into the hole.

Time lost meaning. I fell for what seemed an eternity. Was it 5 minutes? Half an hour? 6 hours? It didn't really matter. My life was basically over. Finally, the door appeared. I landed on it with a defined thunk. I took the opportunity to see how far I had fallen. There was nothing to see. Any trace of light was quickly lost in this chasm. I looked down to the door. The word "open" faintly glowed in the dark. Confident with my decision, I pushed the word. Still confident with my decision, I pushed the word again. Ever more confident with my decision, I pushed the word several more times while saying "open, you stupid door" under my breath. Still confident with my decision, I pulled the lever above the word open, and the heavy metal doors finally gave way. Oh yes, highly secure, no doubt.

The next fall was nearly as bad, just a few feet really. The bomb below me was blinking a bright red. There was only five minutes 'till the explosion. Only five minutes for me to diffuse the bomb and save humanity. Once I did that, there was nothing left for me to do. No escape. No family. No Fang. Well, that's a martyr for ya.

The place stank. All around me were the dead bodies of the workers. There really was no escape for them. Unfortunately for me, they were basically covering every square inch of the bomb. I dug through enough bodies to find an important panel. With newfound motivation, I quickly removed it. Inside there was a whole bunch of wires and important stuff for me to pull out. If Iggy were here, he would know exactly what each and every pieces-parts did.

Just the thought of my family brought tears to my eyes. This was ridiculous. I already shed my tears for them. They would be fine without me. I taught them how to fend for themselves, didn't I? Besides, I'm doing this so that they don't have to suffer. They still had Fang. Fang could find someone from his millions of fan girls. The blindness of my tears made the random pulling easier. I had pulled a whole bunch of random crap. The random pulling probably wasn't a good idea. My fingers were all bloody. I closed my eyes. My job was done. I had nothing else to live for.

"10 seconds until detonation."

My eyes whipped open in startled confusion. I searched the hole filled with broken wire ends. I stuck my whole arm down it, searching for any, ANY purchase. I pulled out one last thing. I fit perfectly in my hand, and with it, all confusion stopped. No more flashing lights. No more anything. I sat in the darkness not even trying to figure out what I exactly pulled out. Oddly enough, it gave me a sense of comfort. My reason for living in the palm of my hands. I closed my eyes and drifted to death peacefully.

Death is not peaceful. I was so hungry. I guess I didn't really deserve a quiet death. Death even gave me weird hallucinations. I heard a loud thunk above me.

"MAX! Damn it! Why won't this door open! Max!"

Damn it, death. Did I really deserve this? Not only did I have hallucinations, but it also had to drag Fang into this.

"Max," hallucination Fang said to me, love dripping from his voice.

All I could do was smile like an idiot and bury my head into his chest as he embraced me and carried me to heaven or wherever.

**P.S. Courtney could you post this on Max-x? I no longer have access to it. Also tell me what people comment on it.**


	30. Fang's POV

**FANG'S POV**

My life was going near perfectly. True, life as we knew was about to end, but I felt like the luckiest guy in the world. Here I was sleeping with the most perfect girl in my arms. I couldn't wait until I woke up. I could hold her tighter and closer to me and blame it on a good dream. I slowly drifted to consciousness. I hugged closer to me.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

My eyes whipped open. I sat up right away. My world got splotchy. Must have sat up too quickly. When reality came back, I quickly searched for Max. I searched for her bright smile and sparkly, irresistible eyes. Wait, I should have known I wouldn't find that. I searched again for her bloodshot eyes that despite being so worrisome perfect set of her blonde highlights in her bed head from her sleepless night. I searched for the cute little wrinkle that showed up between her eyebrows when she had a voice headache or when she was thinking up a ridiculous scheme to magically save the day.

Realization hit me like a ton of breaks. This was no perfect dream where Max and I could live happily without worries. No, Max was too self-sacrificing for that.

Of course Max would jump in that hole. Of course Max would try to stop the bomb herself. Of course Max would make excuses that only she could do it. Of course Max would kill herself if she thought it would make our lives easier. Of course there was no way I could live without Max.

The sun was beginning to come up. If I were to do this, I'd need to before the others woke up.

"Fang, what are you doing," Nudge said sleepily.

I looked back. This was not good. The rest of the flock was waking up. Including Angel.

She stared right at me and practically screamed, "NO!" The others quickly realized the outburst.

"You can't just leave us, Fang," Gazzy said with tears in his eyes.

"Not cool, man," Iggy said.

"What are we supposed to do without you?" Nudge wailed.

"Well, what am I supposed to do without Max, huh? I'll be so miserable, you won't want me around anyway," I shouted back.

"And what are we supposed to do? Do you expect me to take all the responsibility? Ha! That's funny. News headline: Blind bird-kid accidentally blows up his whole bird-kid family. I don't think you'll want that over your head," Iggy said in my face.

"Did you even have a plan, Fang?" Nudge said.

"Well, I hoped that one would come to me," I admitted.

"Awesome plan, Fang! I would have totally used that if I hadn't come up with a plan myself," someone said. I turned around to find Courtney had come back.

"Oh yeah, tell me," I said. I could hear the hope coming back in my voice.

"I'll go with you," she said simply.

"Should we put you on suicide watch, too?" Nudge said, clearly appalled by the idea.

"No, silly. I go down with Fang and keep the door open while he grabs Max and then we fly out," she said.

The flock was speechless. I broke the silence, "Well, let's get going!" I dragged her after me as I jumped through the hole.

The fall took forever. Max was so close, so why couldn't I get to her?

"So, ah, what are your hobbies?" Courtney said, obviously trying to break the tension.

"Saving people, I guess," I replied.

"Uh huh …awkward," she said back.

At last, I landed on the door.

"Finally, get her quick, I'll only be able to hold the door for a few seconds," Courtney said. She had unfolded her wings a bit and was hovering above the door. I nodded in her direction.

"MAX! Damn it, why won't this door open. Max!" I shouted as I finally found the lever over the open light.

The door opened and the smell hit me first. Max was pretty easy to find. It's not really hard to find the most beautiful girl in a pile of dead men.

"Max," I said. I was so relieved to finally find her. She looked exhausted, like she had given up her life to save the world. Her fingers were all bloody from digging through the bomb, and she clutched something in her hand. Despite looking so miserable, she gave me the most beautiful smile and held me close to her.

I held he tight against me before I unfurled my wings. I flew through the door as I followed after Courtney as we returned to the surface. "I love you, Max," I whispered. She was already unconscious. At least I had the excuse of a tight hole to hold her even closer.


End file.
